First mover advantage is a relative position. Even before myspace, there were social networks that were 'first' like Friendster. Rebranding has a lot to do with being a first mover at something. Is hard to maintain that Steem has first mover advantage without some serious rebranding. Bitcoin has that. Other media networks have that.

The idea of 'we have something good going on here, we have to make it grow in a sustainable way' is something that happens to most newcomers in a network that benefits them. Self-interest works.

The fact this worry emerges is a testament to the low barriers to entry and how they incentivize sustainable personal self-interest. While the growth benefits from low barriers to access and success.

The question is: what works?

Most of the growth of the 'crypto' space is based on subsidizing mediocrity. What one can't deny is that is growing. The more it grows the more competition there is. Networks subsidies self-sort quality based on their own rules as time goes by.