Finally got to hear Ned interview. Looking back I agree with the shortcomings of the platform. Just like they mentioned, content hasn't really become better just because there is value to be make. I see sometimes shitty posts earning a lot and great articles making no money. This is mainly because has to do more with the users and visibility than the actual individual article merit. 
I also seen that the e-commerce aspect hasn't really take off as we thought last year, there was a lot of people being on having a big mall like eBay or Ali baba, but for some reason that development didn't really happened. Finally there was the notion of steemit being a savings Bank and earning 10% interest which would make it more competitive than traditional banks, eventually that wasn't sustainable and came down crashing. So yeah, I love steemit, is much better than this piece of crap Facebook, but also think there is a lot of development missing. Notifications is one, following discussions is imperative to really have engagement. More funds for development is also needed, the companies born on top of steemit like appic and viewly hasn't really took the world by storm. Even dtube has been lagging getting prime YouTubers for some reason. I wish there was more community participations, better leadership and of course better utilization of the investments at the corporate level.