I am a minnow right now, 80 days in the pond. I guess you might not be surprised that I find this whole "eco-system" a bit confusing. I appreciate your post because it speaks from a voice of experience and gives me a little more understanding that this whole thing is a work in progress and there are likely to be other changes coming.

The thing I struggle most with is feeling like no one is seeing what I'm posting. There used to be a views counter but it seems to have disappeared. If I have to guess now how many people are seeing anything I post by the up-votes and comments it's kind of depressing. I've tried using a couple of bot-services, mostly with poor results.

I know that things take time and that finding and connecting with real people of similar interests is key. I recently shifted from a focus of creating content, to searching out the content of others and trying to add to that conversation. I have had much better luck with this approach. It lets me be more proactive instead of hoping to be found. I'm still trying to generate a post of my own a day but I honestly feel like I should take my time and try to keep my expectations in check.

I really do enjoy the concept of steemit because it makes me more aware of things going on around me and whether things in my life might be of interest to others. Or the big one, am I personally or the things I think be of interest to others.

I guess I'm not speaking specifically to the point of your post except to say, "it's hard to be a minnow these days!" I will be testing the bot waters again soon. And that I'm going to keep following posts like this to learn from others. Keep an eye out for my fins, thanks.