Like, OK, with Facebook check-ins and news livetweeting, we've seen how social media has become a kind of public utility. Except it's not public. And what with many countries' governments and police, it probably *shouldn't* be publicly owned. But it should be *controlled by the people who use it*. Hence the co-op model.
Obviously the co-op model is just one of many possible ways of running your own social media, but it's one I personally like~