As the system currently operates, bringing in new people to the platform is often a trap.

Some people pull in friends or family by telling them they can make money. We've seen this already with Youtube back in the day, where everyone and their grandma was vlogging or gaming, then getting discouraged when they realize there's a system in place that makes the popular even more popular, and the little guys get no views.

The big sell in my mind for Steem is having a place to permanently post your own original content, and prove that you own rights to that content. The blockchain cannot be contested if your content is original, and was uploaded to Steem first. Photography is a big one, but writing in general and videos too. Youtube can wipe your account, but on Steem your content is locked in after 7 days and visible forever (if it wasn't flagged into oblivion).

I dunno, I think that as long as people are drawn into Steem thinking there's piles of easy money to be made, there's going to be a lot more abandoned accounts and wasted Steem Power tied to them. There needs to be a large paradigm shift to strengthen Steem in the long run. Content creators will always need a way of promoting themselves, and if bid bots are removed, then a tokenized system (or systems) will replace that.

Come to think of it, Steemfollower already uses a system like that to reward someone with points for upvoting others, which then earns exposure and potential upvotes, and even increased promotion and exposure if you choose to burn through those points faster.

anywho, good post, heres hoping Steem matures enough to retain new users. As it stands, I would not want to be a new user now, starting off with 15 Steem Power. The uphill climb would be daunting.