I know at times I seem like a STEEM cheerleader. Certainly, this could get irritating at times

It's not a problem, you can be a steem cheerleader all you want, it will never irritate someone like me because I am a big fan of steem and a believer in the potential steem wields.

Another aspect to this is the fact that it is also technologically superior to many of the other blockchains

There's absolutely no doubt in this. The steem blockchain is second to none and has absolutely no competition whatsoever . I have always hated crypto but steem has made its way into my life and has brought me fully into the world of crypto.

It is said it is much easier to change where people do something as opposed to trying to change what they do.

A perfect statement , would you believe if I tell you I have forgotten my Facebook password ? Well am sure you would take it with a pinch of salt but it's true. Can't remember the last time I visited Facebook. If I could do what I do on Facebook here for a better value, then why should I go back? Steemit has come to revolutionize the internet and very soon ,other platforms would take a que from steemit. Quite me anywhere .

We have a handful of applications on this blockchain at present.

Yea sure we have a lot of them and like you rightly said ,it will grow in future. If coz this is a decentralised system so anyone if free to do what comes to mind, as long as it's for the good of the system.