Have you ever heard the term, "human resources". Do you know what that means? No it is not just for people who help you complain at your job. It means people, who add value just as any other resource would. Their work is a resource, Their knowledge is a resource. With the right tools even their trash can be a resource. Steemit just as every other social media website harnesses human resources for content creation and curation. Facebook is a 366 Billion dollar company for the simple reason that most people in the developed world and some even in the third world have a Facebook account. The value of a billion users for your website its nearly immeasurable. If Facebook has a google ads account I'd sure like to see how much they are raking in from errant clicks and pop-up ads alone. Not to mention the new Facebook ads feature that allows you to pay Facebook to put your ads up.
Just for fun lets Imagine Steemit grows to be as big as Facebook and gains a 300Billion dollar marketcap. What would Steem be worth then? Well if we use the number of Steem in circulation today. It would be over 1,500 dollars per Steem. We know by then there will be many more Steem in circulation. But Those lucky few with Steem Power from todays prices. Would be powering down for massive amounts of Steem.
Where does Steemit get the money to pay all these content creators? The same place Facebook does.