I think I've also been part of this sometime ago.
I could remember talking to my friends about steem and it's benefits rather than all day facebook without an aim or achievement. They all laughed and said it wasn't real. Well, even if I had lost much money than gaining since I joined steemit due to price drop, I have still made some profitable steems that solved problems for me and as well, used that same money that wasn't real to purchase lunch to the same set of persons who said steem was fake. Lol