The annual US defence department's Santa-tracking operation broke its own records for phone calls, emails and Facebook and Twitter followers on Christmas Eve.

The North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad) said that volunteers answered nearly 102,000 phone calls and more than 7,720 emails asking about Santa's location.

Norad Tracks Santa had nearly one million followers on Facebook and more than 101,000 on Twitter.

Its website had 18.9 million unique visitors in December, also a record.

A free smart phone app available for the first time this year was downloaded a combined 1.4 million times from the Apple Store and Android Market.

More the 1,200 volunteers participated at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, which is Norad's headquarters.

The Santa-tracking operation has run every year since 1955.

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