Random thoughts in no particular order: When I first joined steemit (almost a year ago) and I was reading different posts and talking to different people I always heard, "Just make quality content and you will make good money." The onus being on quality content and not a "network" surrounding you. But that ended up being discouraging for me as someone completely new to steemit - I felt I was putting out quality content but I wouldn't even break $1, then to make matters worse I would go to "trending" and see, for lack of a better term, 'shitposts' getting $20, $30, $40+ dollars which was clearly because of the network they had created and not the actual quality. Thus, I felt what they were saying (quality vs crap) wasn't actually true - it wasn't about quality (completely), it was about the network you build first and foremost. Which I think leads into the second "problem" with steemit:

~because it is money based, and everyone wants to find a "network" so their posts can consistently make $10+, it creates, imo, a sort of lack of authenticity - people will upvote/comment to try to create in-roads with those who's votes are worth a decent amount as opposed to actually making a comment simply to connect for fun; in short, it is a lack of authenticity that is driven by wanting to create a network to help you make more $$ on your posts. And I think the whales/dolphins know this too and respond accordingly, knowing that some people only want their vote. To me that is a problem for steemit - I'm not sure exactly how to fix that.

~Sometimes I even hesitate to comment on someone's profile if I feel I don't have much to say because I don't want it to seem as if I am "fishing" to build a relationship just so I can get their coveted vote on future posts.

~I took a break from Steemit for a while (partially b/c my HDD died) and when I came back I have found that I can actually enjoy steemit if I stop "analyzing" how I can create a network or how I can try to get more $ to my posts - I also have stopped looking at trending because it can still be discouraging. Basically I "gave up" and decided to just blog as if it was any other site where $ wasn't attached.

~For the record, I don't think creating networks or whatnot is bad - it simply exists as part of steemit and I think it's an important thing for new people to know - if you want to make consistent money, it's about the network; just knowing that going into it I think sets up the right mindset for someone new to steemit - that it's going to take time to create a network, it wont' happen overnight, even if you are putting out amazing content - you might get a whale to upvote you every now and then but if you want consistent $ it is about the network.

~I have about 10k instagram followers and I've been thinking about creating a post to drive some of them to steemit, but first I want to create a sort of "network" for them, for us all to interact with each other - maybe it will help create that missing "social interaction" you talk about that can help keep us in touch.

~I like steemit, I think it has a bright future; I just think you have to have the right mindset interacting with it to truly enjoy it and stick with it for the long haul.