I would say that the hardfork produces an opportunity for smaller account on the blockchain. It's leading to SMT's and hivemind in the medium term which should be a game changer but in the short term the apps provide a better chance to grow your account. We already have a huge drop out rate from the blockchain before the hardfork and a two week delay to get one so if anything the new system should make it esier to be part of the site.

I spent my fist months on the site struggling to earn a cent per post and it was a long time to see any rewards. With an app like actifit however (which has already accumulated hundreds of account tokes) i can get a 30c upvote every day just from participating in the activity. Dtube, steemhunt, partiko ect all offer a chance to earn as a tiny user which in the old system a year ago was very tough.