Greetings @jaki01,

What a splendid analysis. You make some great points......thank you for a well thought out analysis and the inclusion of solutions.

Of course the price of Steem has a lot to do with how much activity is percolating within Steemit.....if the price went up tomorrow.....even 50 percent the rise in activity would be tremendous.....as we have seen that pattern a few times.

We would all like to see the retainment rate go up......however in truth....there are those that if the account is not bringing in funds they are not going to stay no matter how great the community and perhaps cannot stay.

@kingscrown conducted an interview that you may find worthwhile listening to here. In short the founder of Kucoin shared his thoughts regarding what he thought Steemit needed to do. It sounded like incentives to do some of the things you are mentioning in your post........needed to come from the top. Perhaps in the same manner SteemHunt rewards hunters.

Thank you for the opportunity to think on these things.

Wishing you and your good lady and steem-queen all the best from bleujay!

Cheers!

NB Some additional personal thoughts.

Steemit's model in my opinion is based on a free enterprise system. Those who desire to build something are encouraged to do so.

With regard to your facebook illustration.....it is hard to see how many would make a change until they feel compromised in some way.....besides all their friends must come with them in order to have the same user experience. I think we are comparing apples to oranges. Steemit.....quality content versus Facebook.....not so much.