At the moment it is like a place where we all pay ourselves to put up with each others shitty posts.
lol. This made me laugh :)
99% of posts have zero real value to anyone outside of Steem.
Yep, that is the case indeed. But then, when it comes to most social media platforms this is likely the case also. The difference with those is that they are often first made relevant by 'friends and family' coming in to connect so the shitty posts are acceptable.
This will hopefully change with the applications that make it more friend and family friendly.