You're definitely on the money in your perceptions of Steemit and the other social media.
Yes, there are issues that need to resolved and Steemit needs continual improvements and tune ups.
Ongoing mainstream adoption will keep happening and it's probably a good thing if it's a solid steady growth rather than a big wave purely based on the price of STEEM.
Yeah I also think as more people become aware of crypto's, more people will become aware of steemit as well. Steemit will gain adopotion from people looking for an alternative to other social media but also from people learning about cryptocurrency. As my dad says "bitcoin is like a gateway drug into the crypto world, you can't stop there and start looking for other opportunities and steemit is a very very interesting platform even if you aren't interested in writing or blogging.