Unread Messages, The World’s First Chat Documentary, Harnesses The Power Of Conversations To Reunite America
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Unread Messages harnesses power of conversations
In Partnership with Journalist and Advocate Gretchen Carlson and Powered by Sinch technology, the New Docu-Series Reveals How Hard, Uncomfortable Conversations Are Effective Tools in the Fight for Unity
ATLANTA, GEORGIA, MAY 11, 2021 – As President Biden concluded his first 100 days in office with an address to the nation his call for Americans to come together as one nation was louder than ever. To help bring people together on some of the most divisive topics today, Sinch (XSTO:SINCH) has teamed up with journalist and advocate Gretchen Carlson to showcase the world’s first chat documentary, Unread Messages. The docu-series, which is available today at unreadmessages.org, reveals how people across the U.S. are using technology to create a grassroots effort of unity in America.
America is facing unprecedented division confronting a trifecta of issues: politics, protests, and the pandemic. Although there is great division within the country, people are more connected than ever before. Mobility and social media have become effective platforms to share ideas and connect people, particularly during the pandemic, but it has also been the birthplace of much of the division sewn in the country.
“During this unprecedented time of isolation, our phones have allowed us to stay connected, but because of the challenges the world is facing – race, health, sexuality, politics – some of our relationships have been bruised with opposing views,” said Jonathan Bean, Chief Marketing Officer at Sinch. “Too often we’re only presented with how technology is dividing us and rarely do we see how it effectively unites us. Every story has two sides and is why Unread Messages is so powerful. The chat documentary reveals, through real messages, the highs and lows of finding common ground. Just like in real life, some of the stories have happy endings, while others continue to be works in progress. Unread Messages shows the important role conversations have in healing the divide.”
“When Sinch approached me with the opportunity to tell stories of how real Americans are using technology to bridge the divide, I was intrigued,” noted award winning journalist and empowerment advocate Gretchen Carlson. “Bringing people together to help tell their own stories, has been one of the cornerstones of my life, especially after telling such a personal story of my own. The project is a unique way to step inside someone else’s shoes by sharing real and intimate conversations through personal messages. Unread Messages allows for greater empathy to shine through no matter what side of the conversation you’re on.”
Unread Messages is powered by Sinch’s Chatlayer technology and while each story uploads, the user is able to be part of the conversation through Natural Language Processing (NLP) before unleashing the real-life conversations. The interactive experience allows for each participant to feel more intimately connected to the story. The result is a greater sense of understanding and empathy towards each person’s point of view.
To help more people use the power of conversation to reunite the country, Sinch has partnered with Living Room Conversations to build discussion guides which can help open the hardest and most uncomfortable conversations today, including: race, religion, sexuality, medicine and politics. These conversation guides provide people with the tools necessary to build trust, share personal experiences and find common ground so that we can cross the bridge toward unity.
“We’re proud to be part of the Unread Messages conversation,” said Living Room Conversations co-founder Joan Blades. “We understand the power of conversations and many of the challenges. We’ve developed conversation guides which can help anyone willing to be curious and follow some basic conversation agreements. Respectful conversations increase understanding and connection and improve conversation skills in meaningful ways."
To learn more, please go to unreadmessages.org to experience each story and to download the tools needed to have your own conversations and join the grassroots effort to reunite America.
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CONTACT:
Jeff Hasen
Director of Content and Communications at Sinch
jeff.hasen@sinch.com
ABOUT UNREAD MESSAGES:
Unread Messages is a first of its kind four-part chat docu-series, journalist and advocate Gretchen Carlson joins as a philanthropic partner and powered by SINCH technology, to uncover the hard and uncomfortable conversations American families are having every day through text messaging and show how conversations can help reunite America.
ABOUT SINCH:
Sinch brings businesses and people closer with tools enabling personal engagement. Its leading cloud communications platform lets businesses reach every mobile phone on the planet, in seconds or less, through mobile messaging, voice and video. Sinch is a trusted software provider to mobile operators, and its platform powers business-critical communications for many of the world’s largest companies. Sinch has been profitable and fast-growing since its foundation in 2008. It is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and has local presence in more than 40 countries. Shares are traded at NASDAQ Stockholm: XSTO:SINCH. Visit us at sinch.com.
ABOUT GRETCHEN CARLSON:
Gretchen Carlson is a fierce, fearless and internationally recognized advocate for women’s rights, whose bold actions against Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes helped pave the way for the global #MeToo movement. A journalist, author, TED talk alum, and champion for workplace equality, Carlson was named one of Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World”. She’s a PEOPLE TV special contributor and host of the new daily news podcast “Get The News With Gretchen Carlson” on Quake Media. Carlson is the author of the New York Times bestseller “Be Fierce” and “Getting Real,” and recently co-founded the non-profit Lift Our Voices to end the silencing of harassment victims through forced arbitration and non-disclosure agreements.
ABOUT LIVING ROOM CONVERSATIONS:
Living Room Conversations are designed to assist in weaving the fabric of our democracy, one six-person conversation at a time. First developed in 2010 they are an open source, replicable, and scalable platform for people to come together to form relationships, build understanding and reveal common purpose. Faith communities, libraries, clubs and individuals use these conversations to strengthen community connections. As people of good will discover they care about each other, divides in our culture decrease and we will be better able to address the issues of our time. For more information: http://livingroomconversations.org/
