Regarding the popularity, I think the main thing that people need to understand is that we are still in beta. The site is missing some key features that mainstream users expect to be there on a social media platform. Also, there are still some kinks to work out as far as "fairness" and influence/reward distribution. I think the people that can see past the current issues, and see Steemit for what it will become are the ones that are sticking around.

Once the site gets built out into a full blown social media site with all the bells and whistles, I expect the recruitment and retention problems will solve themselves.