Social networks boost Santa tracking

DENVER -- Santa Claus set records Christmas Eve as he raced across the globe on his traditional holiday mission.

Santa-tracking volunteers at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado said they fielded about 102,000 telephone queries beginning early Saturday on his progress, breaking the previous mark of 80,000.

And his NORAD Facebook page recorded about 999,000 "likes," compared with 716,000 a year ago. Twitter followers increased from about 53,000 last year to more than 89,000. Officials said records set this year were likely generated by people passing the word as well as social media interest.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command has been telling anxious children about Santa's whereabouts every year since 1955. That was the year a Colorado Springs newspaper ad invited kids to call Santa on a hotline, but the number had a typo, and dozens of kids wound up talking to the Continental Aerospace Defense Command, NORAD's predecessor.

The officers on duty played along and began sharing reports on Santa's progress. It's now a tradition at NORAD, a joint U.S.-Canada command that monitors the North American skies and seas from a control center at Peterson. -- AP