For people on Youtube, creators at least, the money making aspect shouldn't be downplayed. It is absolutely a killer app. I think that it is just important that while we talk about the money making aspect, we make it clear to set realistic expectations.
LIke you said, it is hard work to make money on Steem. The difference with Youtube and Facebook is that those platforms require much higher levels of social success (millions of followers etc.) before you can actually make reasonable money on them.
That, right there. Which applies to ALL social media. Like people may look at Alla and her show, and go "wow," but we all know damn well that she didn't just wake up last week and say "I think I'll do a cooking video!" and 500,000 followers appeared out of thin air. But that's often public perception when someone says "make money on YouTube."
You're spot on about the social success levels... I get more interaction here from less than 700 followers than a Farcebook page with 17K likes and two 10K member groups. The real challenge (at least for me) is how to skim off just the active part of that audience and bring them to Steemit, not all the "sleepers."