Google was not the first mainstream search engine. It won in a very crowded market when it first came out. Also, Facebook, which dominates social media, was preceded by Friendster and MySpace.
I'm not saying you're wrong about Steemit. I, too, hope it goes to the moon. But I am saying we can't clearly point to these other examples for comfort.
Well, let's hope steemit follows in Google's foot steps :)
Fingers crossed!