Building a great foundation to stand on before mass adoption is often the key. I noticed the barrier to entry to get noticed in newer arrivals is increasing quite high.
I'm not sure how far off we are but it seems to be creeping up on us. I even joined a nice little community and seeing how fast that is growing is just amazing.
Being part of a community can definitely be advantageous. I belong to Steemit Bloggers and it grew so fast they capped membership at 300 in an effort to keep it so we mostly would all know each other.