As a new user I've got to agree with you.
I see @Digitaldreamer's point in looking at this as an acceptable investment. Write something decent, buy a bot, hopefully, make a bit of a return on your investment. It's better than FB advertising and simpler than a funnel.
Personally, though, it's not very enticing for new blood who is looking to write due to passion.
The community seems to have limited interests.
The demographics looks to be horribly lopsided, which reduces the sort of following you can gather and limits other potential successes like cultivating clients or book deals.
(Unless of course your target demographic are white dudes interested in cryptocurrency and gaming.)
- The nature of the system being so linked to immediate payout creates a parasitic environment. I mean who would come here just to browse?
I haven't seen enough to really get my barrings yet but it seems like it's all the marketers of FB with none of the non invested audience. This shifts the focus from a person experiencing good content to them simply trying to make content that pays and interact enough with others to get paid more.
Steemit is unlike anything I've seen before. You can't compare it with existing platforms because it works differently.
With Facebook, you (the user) are the product. Advertisers buy your attention.
In Steemit, the money comes from mining but instead of being owned entirely by the miners (witnesses), a bigger portion of the mined steem is distributed to contributors.
You may be right about the demography of users. You're also right that the posts here are targeted mainly at existing users. Why would you go to steemit to look for health tips? Steemit users are those who are already interested in cryptocurrency. Understandably, the majority of posts will be about crypto.
Still, the platform has tremendous potential and it's up to us to realize them.