I think that at the moment, the Steemit trending is not about attracting users and probably shouldn't be, it should be more enticing to investors as the goal is to have Steem holders. The community/tribe/frontends/applications etc are another matter and sould empower the content they create.

If I was an investor, I would be happier landing on Steemit Trending now and seeing development and SteemFest type posts to show an engaged community.

The Steemit Trending page is a place where the overvalued whatever content was highly visible for those who might come in here as investors and be turned off from. Downvoting them has turned Steemit.com into more of a frontend home for crypto and steem development, application, investment and the like as well as hopefully and eventually returning some Steem to those who are interested in Steem long-term.