I think of Steemit much like Reddit but I wonder how much of that is just the interface versus what it's actually like. I think its kind of like a cross between Reddit and Medium/Blogger. I wonder if it should be more like a Vbulletin with questions and discussions or if it should be more like blog content with comments and a bit of a centered interface to find new stuff.
It will be interesting to see how things shake out
The design is basically a less fleshed-out Reddit (communities aren't quite as well organized) The culture seems more like a mix of Blogger and Reddit. Communities still pop up around topics, rather than bloggers, but the bulk of the content is done in a blogging style.
I personally treat this a bit more like Reddit, posting my videos and pictures in a less formal way while occasionally doing a more formal blog post. I'd personally like to see more community building aspects to it, but then it might cross over into Reddit too much.
A very smart designer once told me never to make a product that directly competes with another. At the time he was referring to the direct competition between the Sony Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It applies in all industries though: Keep your model at least somewhat unique to draw in a new crowd. That's what Nintendo did, and the Wii was a huge success despite it's shortcomings.
In other words stay in your lane lol!