Who needs Steemit?
It's true that I spend an extraordinary amount of time in my day dedicated to Steemit, but the majority of folks who create content want an easy platform to post, share and be done with it. With so many options to build community, Steemit is yet another place where most people have to start from scratch. I didn't come in with a following, did you? That's a hard and often frustrating truth.
I think Steemit will become more mainstream and the go-to place as soon as it's easier to communicate with one another. If I want to send you a private message, I don't want to go to Steem.chat or discord or wherever else people chat & leave messages.
We have to keep leaving the site for awesome Steemit tools. It's counter-productive. The picture and profile is a huge step forward - but we need more. Until then, Steemit is not a place anyone "needs" -- unless you're addicted to it... like I am.
I love @giftedgaia's answer but my answer is: Everyone and No one.
I would bet they have a ton of reasons for not putting in private messaging.. They could obviously use something outside the blockchain like they did with Rocket Chat ... You gave me something to research - thanks ;)