Norbert plans to study and characterize different social networks and investigate how the interconnections and interactions between users on these social networking sites can be better understood and characterized.

In the past few years the popularity of online social networking sites (OSN’s) has
been skyrocketed. Growing rates of previously nearly unbelievable size became quite normal like the 752% increment of Twitter users in 2008 [1] or the amount of 500 million users in 2010, spending over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook [2]. A survey of students at the university level showed that 89% of the students use social networking sites, 70% visit a social network at least once a day and 84% have a personal page or profile on one or more of these sites [3]. This dramatic success of these social networking sites has therefore sparked significant attention in business and academia, as such platforms show a large potential for ad revenue and targeted marketing efforts for businesses, and as highly dynamic sites provide a rich data source for academics. Yet, to this day there exists a limited amount of research and insights into how these systems work, how users behave and interact on these sites.

In this context, following research questions are proposed:

• What is the topological impact of different social networking sites?
• Is it possible to identify users and groups by abstractly analyzing their behavior?
• How does the information propagate in social networks by the use of messages, emails and posts?
• What is the impact of aggregated OSN data versus single user data?

References:
[1] Mashable.com Blog, Jan 9, 2009
[2] Facebook.com Press Room, Aug 04, 2010
[3] Richard A. Hesel, Ryan C. Williams, Social Networking Sites and College-Bound Students,
studentPoll (7)2,2008

Publications

Study thesis, 2006

“Development and conception of Wikipedia as hyper-audio.”

Supervisor dr. rer. nat. Hilko Donker

Diploma thesis, 2007
“Entwicklung eines portablen Stereo Videoaufnahmesystems für die
Präsentation auf einer Stereoprojektionswand”
(“Development of a portable stereo video recording system for
presentation at an stereo projection screen”)
supervisor: Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Stefan Gumhold

Paper, 2007
“Gestaltung von Hyperlinks in einer Hyperaudio-Enzyklopädie”
(“design of hyper links in an hyperaudio-encyclopedia”); Norbert
Blenn, Hilko Donker, Mensch und Computer 2007, Weimar (M&C
- Forschungspreis für den besten Beitrag [Best Paper Award])

Paper, 2010
“A Tool For Automatic Preprocessing Stereoscopic-Video”; Norbert
Blenn, Niels v. Festenberg, Stefan Gumhold, Electronic Imaging 2010, San
Jose, USA