It is and will always remain important to build relationships. The relationships built in the very beginning of Steemit will go a long way for you and all the other early adopters. I feel that the early mover advantage holds true in case of Steemit too.

It is not impossible, or even difficult, to build relationships even now. I think it is helpful to keep our network small and try to connect with every person in that network. Prior to creating a network, selection of people should be based on values, interests, and quality. The number of followers is not what we choose for ourselves and it can be a big number, like yours crossed 10,000 recently. I think replying to comments and ocassionally interacting with our followers on their blogs as well can make a huge difference in our relationship with all of the followers.

With focused efforts and value addition, we can create new relationships on Steem(it) still, despite the reign of bots these days. I agree that the real currency of Steem is relationships. Other currencies are a manifestation of this primary currency.

With this comment, I have read all the three posts mentioned in this post and I must say that reading them has refreshed the Steemian in me.