but it does nothing for the brands, businesses, or communities who want to have their own experience tailored to their specific use case and reward their userbase for their contributions in a decentralized manner

I don't think Steem achieve that either. I feel like Steemit,Inc didn't use enough or promote interaction in the community. I mean all blockchains try to get a decent and active community while a social network somehow already has it. Well now look where we are. I am not even sure how to get better nowadays. I don't believe in SMT but I still support the efforts the community do to implement them.

Let's see where we go from here.