A couple of others that have popped on my radar lately are https://whaleshares.io/ which is a clone of STEEM. Also https://trybe.one/ is in the early stages but planning to build on EOS.
Also I agree with a lot of the stuff you mentioned in the first half of the article. I realized very early on that this platform doesn't attract younger people. I feel like the core demographic is 35-45 and then you have people on both sides of that but doesn't attract people under 25 years of age.
I have thought about this a lot because I see people posting on Instagram and Snapchat and it is interesting to think about what those platforms have captured that a platform like this can't. It is very odd because there have been stats come out that about 18% of college students in the United States have some crypto so you would think they would want to earn some. But when it boils down to it this place is a weird experience for most and then they peace out quick.