Hey buddy great post, you bring up a number of interesting points. In regards to whether Steemit is worth our time, I would say there's going to be like 1%, probably less who are actually able to make an income on here, for the rest of us it's going to be beer money.
Now that's not to say its completely not worth it, I do a lot of things that earn me beer money, typically they are either...
A. something I think I can build up into something larger over time.
or
B. Something that I somewhat enjoy and don't really mind doing so if I'm earning money with it that's just an added bonus.
For Steemit I highly doubt I'm ever going to turn my account into a significant money maker. Whatever time I spend on Steemit earning peanuts could be better spent doing something else that would make more money so I have to ask myself, do I actually enjoy spending time on this platform to the point where I would be doing it even if I wasn't being paid, all bit it small amounts?
I almost view steemit as an MLM program. You know how with MLM programs the program is about selling water filters, but you don't actually make any money selling water filters, you make money by bringing in new people.
Steemit bills itself as a place where you can earn by sharing content, in reality it's more about gamesmanship. Do you know how to use bots? Do you know how to navigate the system, do you know which voting bots pay the most and how much to donate to get the most effective bang for your buck?
Also there's a handful of people at the top making money off everyone below them.
Also like an Amway or whatever else, while its mainly the people at the top making money, there will be breakout stars. With an MLM a new person can come in and if they have a large network, if they are a good salesman, charismatic, likeable, believeable, etc yeah they can rise to the top and do really well but its more the exception than the norm. Same as here on Steemit, we see some new people come on and really make their mark but for every one of them there's hundreds of others whocome on here, create great content, put in a lot of effort and have nothing to show for it.
Steemit used to be a daily part of my life and something I really focused on. I'm not planning on going anywhere, I'm here to stay, however I'm basically going to treat it like some other social networks where when I have time I'll put time into it but I'm not going to push other things aside or go out of my way for it.
I would encourage anyone who's making content for Steemit, DTube, DLive etc to also post it elsewhere maximize the possibilities for success and making money across multiple platforms, its very possible you'll have more success or that your niche will be more well received on another platform.
I have somewhat compared it to MLM as well and heard others do the same. I think more so it is hard for someone to come in and be able to leave their mark on the platform without being sort of the same contingent that came from BitShares. Some of the Witnesses do a ton and then others don't seem to do much but it is almost like they were there by default because they were early investors in BitShares and were witnesses over there. The same thing will likely happen with EOS. There are a handful of people who will essentially end up with a money printing machine and it seems like if you get out ahead of people with your power then you have enough influence to sustain yourself. But that mark is more around 100,000 Steem Power so it is a substantial investment.
I get what you are saying about only 1% making sustainable incomes. I have been watching the situation for awhile and no content creator has gotten rich off here. Like Millions earned which can be viewed a couple of ways. There is enough money flowing around that could have allowed a couple people to get rich but since everyone has a vested interested in the platform then we somewhat all have our own goals where as on YouTube the viewer can be monetized with an ad even if they aren't creating content or leaving comments. Obviously there are advantages and disadvantages to both sides.
Also if a person puts in a large investment into the platform they are expecting a return so they are going to have to do what they see fit to increase that value.
I'm kind of lucky the post made as much as it did. It is somewhat hit and miss sometimes for sure.