I definitely agree with you on this. I can sense that a huge percent of new users here in Steemit becomes inactive as soon as they realize that it's not easy money.
I brought in 10 of my friends here in Steemit, but they seem to find it difficult to progress. With it, I realized that you need to work hard here in Steemit to achieve something. Well, there are those who get lucky, but for most, it's going to be tons of sweat and a couple of disappointment before our posts get noticed.
Anyway, I haven't thought of Facebook being a threat to Steemit. Hence, this post stirred my interest. The conventional view is the other way around wherein Steemit is the threat to Facebook.
But in my opinion they are different -- something very hard to be compared. Each has a particular use. There might be overlaps but I think they serve different purpose.