Speaking from experience, commenting does not have a payout in SBD-s but it does in promoting yourself and meeting people. It does have results in your follower numbers and upvotes to your posts. I usually spend the same time on steemit writing as I do commenting and I am happy with the results. You can not behave in a way that you write a post, leave, and expect to be magically discovered. Interactions are everything here, especially in the begginig.