Integrated Communications are those that use aspects of the cine.ma of the 21st century integrated with the movement as found in the physical space of society, that is social media on the screen, whether mobile or laptop, silver screen or projected onto a square in the heart of NYC.

Cinema from the 19th century and early to mid 20th century, was effectively anything that was in movement on a screen. This was originally thought of as taking place in movie houses and later on, TV screens either through broadcast or the playback of recorded media.

Cine.ma in the 21st century still involves movement on the screen but many times, it is connected to networks through the device/human relationship. Unlike prior cinema, 21st century cine.ma now includes the interactivity and user generated movement to both propel a piece forward through its non-linear narrativity as well as the movement that occurs happen-stance through the incorporation of both designed and random interactions with different pieces in movement. That is a web site is cine.ma; an interactive narrative is cine.ma; a film project on a screen with a physical "out of movie house" component that matches an audience member's socializing ability is cine.ma; even twitter, facebook and other social media components are cine.ma.

This is digital connection. My ten years of research working on-line, off-line and in-person has reinforced that a person's connection to either a haptic feedback keyboard or a mouse is never enough to sustain lasting connections. Nor is such a connection possible with a website or an online social environment. It needs to be deeper to deliver the opportunity for an ongoing relationship to develop, nourish and persist between brand and engaged participant customer.

Unfortunately many technology planners today don't truly understand people per se. The digital technology that could bridge physical people together, many times is off-putting and short sighted. Heaven forbid, I'll be researching this all too common trait for more then a decade http://cine.ma/blog/mexico.

Divisions: From the Aztecs to the 21st Century from Cortlan McManus on Vimeo.

Digital directors, whether account or creative, many times will place more importance on content versus context. Most of the time community is forgotten altogether. These statements are said with long term planning at the heart of it, not just for one project that runs for one week. Alas, that is why, both as an anthropologist and an artist trained in communications, I take a different approach. Success does not even enter my brain patterns when one new user, follower or friend is added to a brand's Twitter, Facebook or whichever faux social online account. Lasting success comes from strategies which bridge the digital and physical, the real and the faux, the short term with the long term, honesty with transparency, dialogue with participation.

Cine.ma, as we know it in the 21st century, does bring the memories of what was possible but also shows us the way of what will be possible once people and technology are truly connected through the social.

Be sure to check out some case studies that offer a deeper appreciation of the above thoughts in action.