"F4f" almost NEVER works when it comes to long-term quality engagement on any platform. You can usually tell when someone has paid for followers on a platform because they will have 1000s of them and maybe 1 or 2 comments or "likes" on a post.
I just joined steemit a few days ago and I am noticing a lot of low quality posts that seem designed just to be pumped out as quickly as possible for upvotes. It's been difficult to find quality content on here because of all the garbage I have to sift through.
Yes that is something that I do not like seeing. My advice would be to try checking particular tags that interest you. Or check hot and trending. Eventually you will find bloggers you like and can have a nice feed with quality content.
Luckily, those slapped together, pumped out posts won't make any money so maybe they will figure that out eventually? XD