It’s become something of a tradition here at MediaMiser to help children track the real Santa Claus on Twitter, so that they may tweet their Christmas desires to him in 140 characters or less.
Over the last three years we’ve used Twitter to help determine which is the real jolly old elf on the social network. This year we’ve found that many imposters have simply stopped tweeting, making our job a little easier!
@OfficialSanta seems to be the real deal, he’s kept his place at the top of our list for the third year running. He’s also very active on Twitter. The only downside is that his account seems to be more of an advertisement for the UK Santa letter-writing campaign. But even if your kids don’t live in the UK, it’s worth a shot.
The best (and maybe most legit) Santa to contact with your list would probably be @santa, however. Why? He’s doubled his followers again this year, and despite being in fifth place, this iteration of the Jolly Old Elf is gaining followers while many other accounts are losing them (it doesn’t hurt that this Santa has a wicked sense of humour).
Y’all. pic.twitter.com/k5URvXmmfi
— Santa Claus (@santa) December 14, 2015
But @santa__claus is also a strong contender, as his Twitter account has remained active and his followers have also stayed steady.
On this 9th night I have started to plot the route I will be taking to visit you all on Christmas Eve, I am getting very excited. Ho Ho Ho — Santa Claus (@santa__claus) December 15, 2015
Here are the top 7 Santas by followers and the dates of their first tweets.
- Santa Claus @OfficialSanta, 408,865 followers, first tweet was in 2009.
- NORAD Santa @NoradSanta,150,606 followers, first tweet was Dec. 24, 2008
- Santa Claus @santa__claus 111,332 followers, first tweet was Aug 27, 2008
- Kriss Kringle @SANTACLOUSS, 91,812 followers, first tweet was Dec. 31., 2010
- Santa Claus @santa 80,376 followers, first tweet was Dec. 24, 2009.
- Santa Claus @AmazingSanta, 23,459 followers, first tweet was Sept. 12, 2010.
- Santa Claus @santaclaus_hq, 11,575 followers, first tweet was Oct. 7, 2013. He must be busy packing up his sled, because he’s not very active on Twitter.
We took the liberty of removing several Santas from previous years from our list because they’ve stopped tweeting. This includes the slightly potty-mouthed Kris Kringle, whose last tweet was Dec. 24, 2014. Since his only friend was whiskey, it could be that he’s had to pass the job onto someone else while he spends a year in rehab.
But Santa doesn’t just socialize on Twitter. He’s a savvy guy, after all, so you can also try his Instagram account (he’s got 127K followers).
