In my opinion we can't find a solution for as long as we think inside the "money" box. "50/50", "non-linear, 1.3x reward curve" as @trafalgar was proposing, all this is "thinking inside the money box".
Steemit has been indeed sold for the "money" aspect, but it had it right: "come for the money, stay for the community". To have money you need STEEM to be worth at least $2 or more, i.e. 4-5 times more than it is now.
When people start writing normal, everyday things ("did my jogging in the woods today, <picture of woods>") and earn $5 for that they'll start noticing.
How do we get there, how do we get STEEM back to $2 or more ? The answer is to forget the money and focus on community. @llfarms has started a discussion about a mission and a vision for steem. What is steem, why are we here ?
I have offered an answer in my latest post which points to MSF (Doctors without Borders), a charity, for Pete's sake. That is an organization employing more than 100 000 people and receiving more than 1.5 BILLION euros PER YEAR in donations, without a "product "or a "service" to sell
If MSF had a blockchain, its consensus would be called "proof of caring". The 100 000 people working for MSF they care and they "mine" with their work hours.
Forget "50/50" or other such "flash in the pan" tweaks. Rise you head up and look in the future: why are we here, to whom do we SERVE ?
If we, as steemians, do not serve anybody else outside of ourselves, then we don't deserve any money