And a great response @getonthetrain-- thanks!

I have encountered similar concerns/objections when trying to get friends who are long-time content creators and bloggers to set up a presence here. So, each of the four people I have persuaded to create accounts only did so to comment on mycontent... but never did anything on their own.

Elsewhere, I was recently in discussion over the issue of shitposting and rewards... and I am sure I could make lots of short "how to use Steemit" nuggets and earn $50-100 per each; but I am just not ready to sell my sense of integrity for rewards. So I will continue to post the best I can for the long run... and encourage others to do so, as well... perhaps in the vain hope that it will add up to enough quality content to at least balance out the crap, if not gradually drown it out.

As for popularity... well, this IS a branch of "social media." Which means you pretty much HAVE to shout from the (virtual) rooftops and interact and engage. Even when (as here-- check some of the other comments on this post) many of the responses have more real "content" than many posts on Steemit.