This photo provided by The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) shows the Santa Tracker ... [+]
Earlier this month, Twitter banned the account of Jack Sweeney, a Florida student who set up the @ElonJet account to track tech entrepreneur Elon Musk's private jet. Musk has responded that any account "doxxing" real-time location info of anyone will be suspended, and that includes posting links to sites with real-time location info.
In a tongue-in-cheek kind of way we have to ask, what does that mean for NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) tracking Santa Claus on Christmas Eve? Would Musk dare suspend those Twitter accounts as well?
Even if that happened, it shouldn't be a problem as Santa can be tracked on social media via Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram while the Department of Defense (DoD) has once again launched its official tracking website, noradsanta.org. The site, which went live on December 1, features a "Santa's North Pole Village" with a holiday countdown, games, holiday music, a web store, and more. It is available in eight languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Chinese.
An official NORAD Tracks Santa app is also in the Apple App and Google Play stores.
On Christmas Eve, children can follow along beginning at 4 am ET.
The History of NORAD Tracking Santa
NORAD's tracking of Santa Claus actually began as a fluke on Christmas Eve in 1955, when the then Continental Air Defense Command Operations Center in Colorado received a call from a child asking about Santa's whereabouts. Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, who was working the evening shift, took the phone call from a boy who had followed the directions in a local department store's newspaper advertisement that told children how to call Santa — except the number had been printed incorrectly, and instead was for the operations center.
Rather than being a Scrooge, Shoup and his team responded to that first child, as well as the many others that called on that first Christmas Eve. In the process, it kicked off a new holiday tradition. The role of tracking Santa then continued when NORAD was formed in 1958, and it's been getting more popular and more technologically savvy ever since.
In addition to calling in to talk, kids today can now use social media and a mobile app to follow St. Nick.
According to the DoD, as Santa flies around the world, satellites track his position by detecting Rudolph's nose, which gives off an infrared signature similar to that of a missile. NORAD also tracks Santa by using U.S. Air Force F-15, F-16, F-22, and Canadian Royal Air Force CF-18 fighter jets. On Christmas Eve, U.S. Air Force fighter pilots will rendezvous with Santa off the coast of Newfoundland to welcome him to North America. They will then escort him safely through North American airspace until he returns to the North Pole.
Big Effort - Big Payoff
More than 1,500 Canadian and American uniformed personnel, Defense Department civilian employees, and others help each season, while volunteers and donations from numerous companies cover virtually all of the costs of running the program.
"It is proof that everything that starts simple will become bigger, and while there is often a debate over whether bigger is actually better, in this case, it is," said Scott Talan, professor of public relations and strategic communication at American University.
"The fact that this has gone global also shows how the culture of United States has spread around the world," Talan added. "But Santa is now beyond religion, and I would say he does his own thing. This is also a global phenomenon and social media confirms that."
It is doubtful that Musk would dare be a Scrooge, and ban anyone for tracking Santa of course, but the fact that it is even being asked on social media highlights the power the platforms have, as well as the need to believe at this time of the year.
"We know the truth about Santa," Talan admitted. "But while we know that facts, truth and reality matter, the ability to believe in Santa, and go to the lengths to track him, allows us to suspend the disbelief. That is the very exception to the rule that facts and truth matter."
