I don't like the term "low expectations". This does sound negative. Maybe realistic expectation is how I would have written it down.
The problem is that people do think that it is a quick rich scheme and if they write a good enough introduceyourself post, this will only feed this idea.
One, who writes a good introduction post, will easily get some upvotes and and post which is worth something. This increases the motivation. But them the next 10 posts will have a pay out around, uhm, 0 (zero). Bye bye motivation.
But it is hard to set realistic expectations. This will differ for everybody. There are people here, who really are excellent writters or photographers, other are so so, and others are just bad :)
Each of these persons could have the same expectations, but this is not how things work around here. If you are a great commenter, there is a chance, that even a lower quality post will have a higher pay-out than one of a really good author. This because he/she will have a much bigger network and other Steemians appreciate him/her, which could result in upvotes.

I do see Steemit as a concurrent for wordpress or blogger. Not for facebook (yet). The content placed on Steemit can better be compared to the content of both blogging site and not with the content on facebook!

Let's talk after a year and check if we are both still here and how we did fare!