Thanks @colorado-girl for your comments both here and on my Facebook page... You should be compensated for your investment of time community building and for your content.... beyond just "likes".
That's one point that really burned me with Google / YouTube "partnership" is that there was no real transparency as to what their "cut" was on the YouTube platform. 50/50 could easily have been 99/1. Here, in the Steemit "gift economy" there is transparency!
People need incentives to produce, and with something (dare I say, money!) that can be applied to their quality of life IRL... I think you'll find yourself feeling at home here on Steemit! ; )