A referral program has been discussed many times, but nothing has been implemented yet.
I've dealt with the same frustration over the past 6.5 years regarding trying to get people onboard with cryptocurrency. It's hard to teach experiential knowledge. People just have to do it and they have to do it because they want to intrinsically, not because someone gave them a reward to do it. More thoughts the experience problem here: How Do You Teach Experience? What Will Your Cryptocurrency Story Be?
RE: HF21: What Makes Steem Valuable?