In my opinion, the problem is that people see Steemit as Steem, they don't differentiate between the blockchain and the site. Which is actually true, what is the added value of Steem without steemit?

And let's be completely honest, the site is not really the best way to market Steem, with the downvote wars, heaps of useless context and exceedingly unimpressive UI.

There are some hurdles to overcome:

• A decent social network, based on Steem. Be it steemit.com or busy.org, or maybe a new development.
• Ways to spend Steem.
  Currently, I don't know what to do with steem or sbd, except to convert it to fiat. This process is cumbersome and stupid, and should be changed.
  We need to be able to purchase items using normal steem or SBD or convert it into fiat instantly in an easy process.
• The time it takes to undelegate and power-down.
  It feels like you're being punished or forced to stay put when you want to get something out of the system. Powering up and delegating are instant, but getting something back takes 7 days (delegate) or 13 weeks (power down). Stupid!
• A more active steemit.inc.
  The company behind Steem may be working very hard on new stuff, but their communication is seriously lacking. What's the status of new developments, like smart contracts and communities? What's also not helping is that you cannot contact them, at least no way I know.
• The registration process sucks big time!!!!
  A friend of mine to the create an account, which went all the way to the SMS received and entered, and there it stops. No email or anything after that. And like I mentioned before, how to contact someone about it?? Registration must be instant, it is the lifeline of a social network.
• The payout is not nearly good as people are lead to expect.
  When someone first finds the site, they see payouts of between 30 and 300 dollars.
  I understand you need to build a group of followers, but the way steemit works now, that is virtually impossible. So a large group looses interest very quickly, which adds to all the negative press we're already receiving out there.

There is a lot more that needs to change in order to become a really successful site, but these are some of the issues that just pop into my mind.