When I first signed up to Steemit I didn't really know or understand what it was. I was banned from Facebook, Google plus was useless as was twitter and all social media this was due to pay to reach and censorship.
Steemit started off the same. It seemed like a good idea but it lacked users. As the users grew I made a couple of thousand dollars on this site (that seems impossible now.)
I would make two or three dollars a post sometimes more.. Up to $70 a post at its best. Steemit did seem better than the rest and it rewarded.
What broke Steemit is probably the same thing that made it, Pizzagate.
Pizzagate led to a step up in censorship and though the Steemit blockchain can't be censored the feeds can still be manipulated.
Steemit is now pretty dead. The price of Steem is not growing as fast as other crytpos atm but that could change. I do doubt it will grow as fast as it once did though unless Steemit allow a more free flowing service that promotes freedom of speech. All it has to do is what is was supposed to do in the first place, let the people decide.