It works both-sides. The newer members or some that you gonna see that have the same reputation for way too long (cause of shitposts probably) they will be ''nice'' to everyone because they wanna earn easy money and not get flagged.
In general though even now steemit is way best than fb and other social media as you said too. The reason is because the majority of people that come here are sick and tired of the other social media and the amount of bad behavior there so they want a change.
When i got here a bunch of people came to welcome me even though i didn't even posted a photo of myself. (About 1,5 year ago). That surprised me and made me feel good.
At the same time i started doing the same. I greeted newcomers and also i let them know that if i could helped them with info and tips i was more than happy to do. Some of them wanted my help and ofc i haven't said no. Till now we have an active relationships in steemit (commenting,challenging in general interacting)
I made a post about similar thing regarding the people that don't answer to comments and i said that's basically a stupid mentality that came from other social media.
Also and that's really really important, all those new people that comment on posts of a ''bigger player'' and receive a nice comment back maybe an upvote how motivated and happy with steemit will be?
Won't they feel that there is some equality no matter the money you have, won't he feel a sense of community? If he/she do the exact same thing in facebook either he/she will be ignored, or get a silly reply or even get a nice package of swearing.
Very good points... let me ask you something, since you've been here longer than me. How do you feel about SMT's and the one account one vote idea. ??
it depend's on how they gonna use them. Once again SMT have the potentials to make steemit reach a whole other level as for example even facebook can built their coin based ofc on SMTs. Imagine how beneficiary that will be for steem's price.
Also another reason SMTs are helpful is that you bring other players along that could have been potential enemies later. Imagine steem to continue growing and have more and more people and ofc market share through time. That will made some people ( governments-corporations) a bit furious and even lead to find ways to undermine steemit. Now it's like an invitation that says come along.
Although it sound awesome we don't yet know what will happen in reality or if there are some ''secret talks'' behind the scenes. After the whole sbd incident i prefer to wait and see how things will end up cause i can't say i trust them completely.
Now as per the one account one vote idea i can tell you that i never heard it like that so i am not sure what you mean, so please enlighten me if my guess is wrong. I guess that we are talking about people who make more than 1 accounts right?
If yes i have to say that the majority of them are scammers and probably should get flagged. On the other hand though there are some people that in their main accounts have a niche, for example scientific posts or art and they have gained some followers and auto votes.
Those people may want to make a second account in order to post more light content (memes,jokes funny content in general) and don't wanna take advantage of the people that autovote them or even decrease their voting power. In that case i am with them making a second account.
So in conclusion i would be good if there was someone or a community dedicated to find those accounts one person has and let the public know so they can choose what to do. Although most of the people that will make a second account in order not to take advantage of their friends autovotes will let all their followers know through a post in their main account