Loomio
Tue 8 Nov 2016 3:15PM

'Online Platform Purchasing Co-op'

ST Sam Toland Public Seen by 152

There has been a lot of discussion about what the best outcome of the #buytwitter campaign is, and what areas we should be investing our collective energy.

I feel that we have people settling into several overlapping areas of thought.

(i) let's establish a feasible and pragmatic approach to buying out Twitter today
(ii) use the idea of buying out Twitter as a thought-experiment to stimulate debate
(iii) use the #buytwitter momentum to build the capacity (that didn't exist for the #buytwitter campaign) to buy the next appropriate online platform that becomes available (or indeed invest in nascent platform co-ops).

I think all three areas merit investment - but I am personally most interested in the (iii) area of investment and debate.

I thus propose that we set up a sub-group on Loomio where people who wish to focus on this element of the campaign may do so, without diluting the work on area (i).

What does the community think about this? And does anyone else have another proposal for an alternative way to progress the organisation of the (iii) element of the campaign in tandem with the others.

Past Loomio Threads for context:
https://www.loomio.org/d/KI6Z5P2a/discussion-points-forming


After the group successfully committing the capital to pay for our monthly Loomio use... we are a purchasing co-op! :)

What's next?

Quoting @samtoland

"I think the Solid Fund model could be the answer in the short-term.

http://solidfund.coop/

It's an unincorporated group based on an operating manual, using Loomio for decision-making, multiple trustees decided by the group, and funds held by a sponsoring organisation.

I think this model (adapted to our specific needs/goals) could get us through the next few steps (and associated trust-building) - and parks the messy (and expensive) conversation around incorporation.

Horse before the cart, as we say in Ireland :)

Next step, work on an operating manual? (Anyone want to pre-empt my proposal, I'll make one once I have a bit of time, but happy for someone else to start it - and i can edit).

Solidfund example: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DSWOH520Gh-JL5bQL9e_X3BqSk9u7NtVI4W5JnoNfm8/edit#heading=h.7vo4c9u6ahtp "

GB

greg brodsky Tue 8 Nov 2016 4:29PM

Here's the only way I think a Twitter buy could happen...

1: Research what price per share and total dollars Twitter likely needs for $ to make a deal happen (# of current shares and price per share will help you figure this out)

2: Develop the co-op as a multi-stake holder model, consisting of an employee member class, and a consumer member class. This will create better long term employee buy-in, and it will also reduce the amount.of money needed from consumers as well.

3: Get the legal docs ready for the mult-stake holder co-op. Ie set-up the incorporation docs, proposed by-laws, and shareholder agreements. I know a good co-op atty on multi-stakeholder co-ops if you need one.

4: Set-up a kickstarter or indiegogo or gofundme page to see if there is enough consumer interest to fund the consumer portion of the shares.

5: Connect with a few existing Twitter employees to make sure that the employee share model works for them and also to make sure that funding model creates enough cash in the bank for Twitter to meet its strategic goals.

Its a lot of work, but do-able under this approach. Let me know if you want to talk further re this strategy.

SF

Suresh Fernando Tue 8 Nov 2016 4:55PM

@samtoland - thanks for articulating this. I think ii) and iii) are related and are what will be the real result of this process.

I'm happy to contribute if there is momentum.

JH

Johnny Haeusler Tue 8 Nov 2016 7:08PM

I like the idea of having two parallel groups. Personally, I won't be able to put much energy into (iii), because I think that needs even more time and planning than (i).

My main interest is focused on (i) and (ii). But it's not much use to think about it further if we don't have more support from users, I think. It's good and important to think about how actually buying Twitter could work. But no-one will listen to the results, I'm afraid, if there's not at least 100k signatures under the petition. And we're very far from that.

JG

Poll Created Tue 8 Nov 2016 7:22PM

Let's Make a Sub-Group to Dev. an Online Platform Purchasing Co-op Closed Fri 11 Nov 2016 7:02PM

Loomio enables subgroups that the parent-group has full access to and nearly equivalent notifications (with users able to opt in for equal or greater notifications), so let's go ahead and make @SamToland (or another) to set this up:
> I thus propose that we set up a sub-group on Loomio where people who wish to focus on this element of the campaign may do so, without diluting the work on area (i).

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Agree 90.0% 9 ED SF EC JG DU C ST P RP
Abstain 10.0% 1 TM
Disagree 0.0% 0  
Block 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 239 JV SJ IS ST M JD ML AT RF SP S MS JA JF HC AP JR EF Y JD

10 of 249 people have participated (4%)

TM

Tom McDonough
Abstain
Tue 8 Nov 2016 10:09PM

My only interest is TWTR

ED

Eric Doriean
Agree
Wed 9 Nov 2016 12:49AM

Interested in looking a Platform Coop for next gen communications and community

ST

Sam Toland
Agree
Wed 9 Nov 2016 11:53AM

Think that building the capacity to purchasing existing online platforms, and support the development of user-owned platforms should be a key goal of the group, and a great way of harnessing the energy of the #buytwitter campaign for the longer-term.

P

PoliUndelivered
Agree
Wed 9 Nov 2016 3:08PM

I think the only thing that will spark movement is funds coming together.. Seems like it might best be done thru a new platform and I'd be happy to help.

RP

ron patiro
Agree
Thu 10 Nov 2016 9:37PM

I agree and would like to be involved.

CC

Chris Cook Tue 8 Nov 2016 7:57PM

Here's a Plan B, by way of a complementary approach which requires minimal if any upfront capital.

1/ Create a Twitter Development LLC

2/ Twitter Inc becomes the Capital Partner LLC member, while Twitter Staff/ Management become the Capital User member with an agreed allocation of Twitter Inc gross revenues.

3/ Twitter Development LLC creates and implements a suitable Twitter development strategy, with any necessary capital coming from new Capital Partners - investing financial and intellectual (ie us) capital as necessary.

4/ Upon completion Twitter Inc assets (IP etc) are bought by the Twitter Foundation from Twitter Inc, with the purchase funded by Twitter revenues prepaid at a discount.

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