Giving away this uniqueness to other sites will delude that uniqueness pretty fast. STEEM will just be an SMT out of many on the STEEM blockchain.
You are right here!
I am of the opinion that because STEEM is the first one, it will probably be valued higher, similar to the relationship of Bitcoin to other crypto and Ethereum to Bitshares, and now STEEM.
I haven't really gone through the whitepaper, just been reading other people's posts about it but, I think the idea is to strengthen the blockchain rather than the token.
Is our community big enough to stand on its own yet
The community is quite big but not loyal, if there is another social media platform where you're getting better payouts, or where 100% of author shares are in SBD or something similar, half the community will flock there. Too many people are on steemit for the quick money, which can be made by literally posting anything.