With SMTs and other projects growing on the steem ecosystem, it's more and more likely (though not likely yet) new users will come in through other means. They'll follow a link to a post or check out a person they're interested in. Communities will decide what content is "good" and the trending page will fade away as an entry point for new people. I don't know Steeminc has this in mind, but it seems like they do.
Try going to YouTube from a fresh browser that you've never logged in with, and you'll see lots of crap on the landing page. Without the trackers, cookies, and data it collects from you, YouTube has no idea what you like. Therefore it gives you the content that's popular or trending, even if it's crap you'd never watch.
Only a minority come in this way. Most people come through an auto-login synced to their gmail or other service, often already auto-logged in. Hence the importance of Google (owns YouTube), who gives people lots of easy ways to access content. YouTube leverages Google's huge, integrated on-ramp to make it easy for people to "fall into the rabbit hole." Without Google, YouTube would never have succeeded, and certainly wouldn't offer an excellent U/X.
But other services don't have this luxury, they succeed by having 1) a niche audience/purpose or 2) content creators who bring followers. And, of course, an easy account-creation process (via centralized party).
It's about building communities and networks. And making the new account process easy.
Community and networks. If people visit because they have a person or topic they like to follow on the platform, landing page won't matter.
I know what you mean, but a better trending page could be good for Steem anyway. It just needs a few big accounts to change their strategy to make a difference.
Nah. Needs communities to grow and develop around the ecosystem.