I think that most people were brought for the income aspect of it, and so as the value declines, we are less likely to stick with it. Once the value stays consistently above $1 I think we will see a lot of retention and a lot of new adoption.
It does have a lot of potential, and Steemit.com is just one portal to access. There's also Busy.org with a different look and slightly different features.
The main thing is the value, though. We could say, come for the value stay for the community... but it'll always come back to the value.
Currency, barter, profit motivate without saying. Banter, discourse, and conversation motivate others! (They are probably motivated by the other things too...)