well stemiit says when you register money talks, but when it's bear market, no money no talk, steemit and crypto in general have seen a rise in users because of the 2017 pump ride and now that prices come back to something a bit more grounded many of them have left realising that steemit is hard and money talk if you work for it. Even twitter crypto world is quieter not just steemit.
Now you have platform like APPICS, LIT, SAPIENS, and other crypto currency based social media tokens that will attract people who just want to share photos or small videos and not essays type articles that end up getting no exposure or rewards.
Crypto is a big world and many of us are not writers or bloggers and many non bloggers got into steemit just for the reward not for the words.
Steemit is commitment, and commitment nowadays is very precious and hard to get.