When would demand leave though?
Because not everyone shares the same interests and they may not find their engaging connections here?
Because the rewards for most users will be less than $5 per month, i.e. meaningless?
Medium reports only 20,000 of its 25 million readers blog weekly. Blogging is not something everyone can do well. So what do the rest of the users do that is engaging?
The more likely scenario in that situation would be that the dollar/BTC value of Steem would approach zero.
Which would disincentivize cashing out at some level above zero, because of the cost of cashing out isn't 0.
Not everyone in the world likes Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr or McDonalds. Not everyone has to like something for it to be successful.
I'm not sure where you're from in the world, but $5 is a lot of money to a lot of people around the world. And besides, when a platform is consistently allows the publication of high quality content on the Internet, that's valuable regardless of if you're getting paid to read it.
I think you've answered your own question here. Why is Medium so popular, if only such a small percentage like to write on it?
Yes, agreed.
Have a good one
"So what do the rest of the users do that is engaging?"
It's true and is a valid point. On most media platforms, there is a ratio of 90:10 for consumption and creation respectively. But it is also true that Steemit has forced this creativity up, even if it's partially forced and the only way to excel on this platform. I am very against for-profit platforms because they WILL dry out and it this case they may dry out while you still hold tokens.
Another point I make often is that nobody's personal biased truly matter. ALL of these decentralized, liberated platforms of media and technologies MUST come together through time to facilitate something that serves humanity, not our pockets.