Steemit.com was in the top 1000 websites worldwide by traffic. If that's not 'working', I don't know what would qualify as 'working'.

Bitconnect was once in the top 20 on Coinmarketcap with a multi-billion valuation, so the fact that steemit was once a top 1000 website isn't really an argument. In contrast, I would see it more as an argument of why the system doesn't work.

The main issue is that pretty much all incentives are reserved. Nearly all content on this platform is just a tool to earn, that's why you see all the posts about Steem because that is the circular topic everyone here is 'interested' in. 99% of the actifit shitposts have nothing to do with health or activity but are just a quick way to make posts to get the upvotes, everyone all of a sudden became a sportswriter when Sportstalk came about because it gave a way to earn some more tokens. The same thing will happen with appics, ...

The way I look at it, Steemmonsters is pretty much the only thing that gets it right on the Steem Blockchain right now.