Steemit is demonstrating very definite and measurable phases in its evolution. 

These transitions are highlighted by the different arrows in the picture below.

Overall steemit traffic till the 21st July

Phase 1 is from the start up till the black arrow. This is the initiation phase where the inner circle are the ones active on steemit with very few new users per day and very slow growth. On the 26th Steemit is discovered by the outside world - Brazil of all places - by this is misdirected traffic with a high bounce rate as demonstrated by the huge gap between the blue and the grey lines. New users get to the site, don't find what they are looking for and then leave immediately. The real traffic is demonstrated by the steady rise of the grey line.

April steemit Traffic

Phase 2 shows steady organic growth punctuated by instances where new users peak due to steemit articles being featured and linked to elsewhere on the web (red arrows). The highest peak marked by the green arrow is when this post was featured in hackernews:

https://steemit.com/crypto-news/@dan/is-the-dao-going-to-be-doa

May steemit Traffic

In may returning users per day more than doubles from around 400 users to just over 1000 users per day. 

Phase 3 is demarcated by the blue arrows. it indicates a phase where bounce rate lowers. and the difference between the new users blue line and the returning users grey line narrows.

This indicates that more new users are being converted into returning users. This is great news for steemit and indicates that the user front end is maturing.

June steemit Traffic (till 21st)

In the last week we have seen a further indicator of maturity. 

In the past we have seen a sharp spike with a rapid drop off and only a gradual lift in returning users. Now we see a wider peak with slower drop off and a much higher conversion rate from new users to returning users.

 The traffic has also been coming in from more divers sources.

• Search engines 
• Twitter
• Facebook
• etc

Returning users per day is well on the way to doubling again by the end of the month.

Well done devs!... the front end is better at retaining new visitors and well done promoters!.... the traffic flow is broadening and deepening.