The problem is in how people approach this site. When money is involved it's all they can think about. If we can get users to enjoy the experience as it is and have the money as an added bonus, Steem will succeed.
Even earning 1 cent from your first introduction post here is more than what 99.9% of users have earned from sites like Reddit,Facebook or Instagram after YEARS.
It's kind of illogical to go back to Reddit or Facebook while complaining of low rewards on here ;) We are seeing new services built using Steem reward system that mimic sites we have grown used to. DTube is new Youtube, SteepShot will be our Instagram, Zappl is Twitter and so on. So why go back? You can make others rich from your work and data, or do the logical thing for long term.
If it's hard to start earning money here, people should try to do same on Youtube and Twitch or anywhere else on the internet. They might be surprised.
This is my outlook exactly. I'll be posting later about the huge gains in downloads and plays my podcast is getting since joining Steemit. I post 4-5 times between episodes (including a preview posts), and I could see $0.01 on those posts. That's still more than I was making on FB or Wordpress. And the exposure is incredible.
There is also a difference I believe between the type of reader on Steemit. The attention span is larger, so the more effort I put in, the more I know someone is going to appreciate it.
The money comes later, when I have a larger follower base and have gained trust.
Just having that as an option is a shot in the arm. At least to this author/podcaster.
Don't take me wrong, I am a big supporter of steemit and thinking for ways to make it better. I think most people are not aware if they are making other people rich or not. Even in steemit, due to DPoS people with higher stakes will be easily richer (e.g. delegating SP to bots similar to dividends from a public company stocks ). But big stake holders can do better by improving steemit.
If steemit has to be better than other social-media sites, other than reward it has to fight with other socia media with good services (e.g. better user interfaces, celebrity users). It is synergy among reward, information and services. Without proper amount incentive, people looking for better information and service can go elsewhere. Good bloggers who can earn better per hour may go somewhere else or pursue other jobs. It is not just about the reward, it is about well compensated reward.
However, steemit is a good experiment, still in beta. It is still in exponential growth trajectory and things should be sorted out with experimentation.