Hello everyone,

Hopefully this message finds you well. Autumn is quickly approaching and those of us here at Mystic Waters have been taking some time to look back on the summer and what we have accomplished over the last few months.

The first thing worth mentioning is that we published "Using Social Media" back in May. It is our first in house publication and was constructed by Jacob Szemanski and Kurtis Iseminger with some assistance from me. These two guys have been a great asset during the infancy of this company and we are actively seeking ways to integrate them beyond their internship roles. The documents is downloaded regularly so look for a follow-up at some point.

This brings us to our next noteworthy point. The internship opportunities for college students are very flexible. Of course, we are always looking for people looking to blog, write feature articles or assist in developing other content. However, it is worth noting that we have a wide variety of projects underway and can find ways to get you involved. Gerald Chapman is an Electrical Engineering student that has been prototyping some 3D printing concepts. You never know where you might fit in with MWM!

We understand that everything we do it all about connecting with individuals, so we have actively been engaging the #NWindiana business community by visiting networking events and connecting with other regional entities.

Duneland Innovators is beginning to pick up steam and there is now quite a bit of content to read. So if you have not checked out the site in a while or ever before, find out what you've been missing. Posts have been about topics like technology in its infancy, how-to’s, reviews of local universities and interviews and reviews of entrepreneurs and their businesses.

We launched a site for Halfpint Helmets recently and are now looking forward to the first shipment of mini helmets to arrive here in Chicagoland. Look for those soon!  Additionally, we are working on sites for Mystic Sweets & Crestone Music, but these are in states of progress and not quite complete yet.

Mystic Waters has also been developing a content marketing campaign for CimTrak, the file integrity monitoring software suite by Cimcor. The company operates around the globe but is based nearby in Merrillville. Its great to be working with these guys and we're learning a lot.

It has been an exciting couple of months. As we approach the 1 year anniversary of founding this company there is much more to be excited about to come. Stay tuned…

Since Vine became a public app in January many people have begun to use it to create 6 second video compositions of the world around them. The app has had a few really interesting creations that have been definitely art, advertising, a captured moment or inspired. Unfortunately, the majority of people shoot videos as if their Dad just got a camcorder in the 1980's...it isn't pretty. Lots of shaky videos of kids laughing and animals being cute.

That was fine in the meantime for Vine but on June 20th, the Facebook owned app and photo-sharing social network, Instagram released an update to their app that allows users to create 15 second videos. Nothing spectacular about that until a user begins to investigate the new feature. People that use Vine have become familiar with the idea of the tap-and-hold procedure to capture video and Instagram makes use of this same action. However, after nabbing some video Instagram allows you to see how long the clips are in relation to the entire 15 seconds that are allowed. Plus, you can delete it if the clip didn't come out the way you would have liked. Even this simple editing component makes this microvlogging tool superior on the video side.

At our team meeting yesterday, people were already saying that "Instagram will kill Vine" and that most people knew someone that had already decided to abandon the app altogether. While I'm not willing to go that far yet I do think that Instagram has the edge for a number of reasons:

1. The user base of photo-creatives on Instagram dwarfs almost all of the work I've seen on Vine. There are flashes (6 seconds goes by very quickly) of brilliance on Vine while I've spent lots of time just viewing amazing pictures by excellent photographers on Instagram. Already this community is making videos that can express deeper emotional components.
2. Commercial viability. At 15 seconds, a great Instagram clip is ready for broadcast on television and other mobile devices that we are all constantly using to connect.
3. Imaging. Stop thinking about just photos or video and instead consider that Adobe used to own imaging. Instagram has hijacked the best part of PhotoShop (Filters & Effects) and brought it down to the consumer level where we can all play while also cutting into YouTube's space.

Neither app really does audio very well. Vine probably sounds a little better to me so far but I need to work with it some more to be sure. It also seems as if Vine has a wider field of view, whether that is a benefit or not depends on the situation.

Dig me up on Instagram and see what I've been shooting lately.

What have you learned so far?

I have learned a lot about the history of the internet and some specific technologies.  It has really given me an appreciation for what we have now and an awe for what is to come.

What kind of skills have you begun to develop?

Mainly blogging.  Just being able to find a topic that I don’t know a lot about, then researching and writing about it.  I also scratched the surface on some technologies that have led to ideas for future projects, like the idea that I had for a mobile gaming device.  However, the one overriding skill that this internship helped me hone was the ability to give structure to something that is relatively ambiguous.  I feel that this might be one of the most important skills to learn in any profession.

The first three months for Mystic Waters Media have been exciting and busy. What started as an idea in the fall of 2012 is now blossoming into fruition. There are lots of updates to share regarding the developments here at this young company, so please read on to learn more.

First, it should be noted that our team has grown! We have two students performing as interns and helping with a variety of different tasks internally. Jacob Szemanski and Kurtis Iseminger are blogging regularly and assisting in the development of a promotional document titled "Using Social Media". We hope to complete it in the coming weeks. Look for their blog entries on Duneland Innovators. This is an in house web project based on reporting interesting developments in business, technology, academia and more from right here along the shore of Lake Michigan.

This business provides a number our clients with web designs, social media campaigns and other digi-services. In the last three months we have helped launch new websites for a number of business throughout Chicagoland.

Thank you to everyone that has given this new business an opportunity! We have many more announcements in the coming weeks as projects come online. If you require marketing or promotional services on the web for your small business please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..