Sadly, I can't fully join Steemit as long as the methods of both discovery and immediate communication are so underdeveloped.
Steem needs two important features:
instant messaging integrated
a recommendation system
Out of the two, the latter is the tougher because it has to be accurate AND unbiased in order to keep aligned to the fundamental values of Steem.
Good point, I think that you should send your suggestions to the team and see what they think. Moreover , Hardfork 20 is coming with many new features...see my older post for details.
I afraid that I wouldn't be enough on my own. And spreading the word isn't super effective for m on Steem so far.