STEEM is already succeeding. Look at the user growth...look at the daily active users...look at the number of posts/upvotes...look at the daily number of transactions.
True the pricing action is poor but, then again, all pricing in the crypto world is poor right now. Yet the marketcap does not reflect what is taking place on this blockchain.
From that perspective, things are charging ahead.
It still has it's issues though, from aggrandizement to hygiene and bittersweet problems...