What an interesting talk... and thinking about it, in my own experience it's rare that I join any type of competition for a one-off reward. Is it worth my effort? However - in your experiment - it grows the pie over time, so the reward is multifold and a return given over a longer period of time. Most people like to be creative. In order then to creative incentives and attract quality followers as it is in your case, one would have to find a way to push the creative button.
Good stuff on your part - intriguing experiment - as long as it doesn't break the bank!
-ch @globocop
Thanks the fun part of Steemit, I CAN'T break the bank. What I am splitting with the commenters is the SBD part of my earnings. Before I was giving 5 SBD no matter what the post earned. That wasn't sustainable... thats why I switched to sharing ALL. No downside for me, much bigger upside for commenters! (was able to give 2x10 SBD prizes already!)