Here i want to share my personal opinion, before joining Steemit i tried few Websites where i shared my content but literally speaking with tremendous amount of effort and after spending hours of time i didn't received anything and that's why i am fortunate because i got introduced with this amazing Platform. And yes, every platform have to grow and they have to use some business models if people will like or not because everything is business but Steem fulfilling the both aspects means, it expanding it's business (possibly there could be some pros and cons) and also paying the rewards to content creators.
Thanks for sharing this post with us and wishing you an great day. Stay blessed. 🙂