The way I am thinking about it is that Steem is a platform of apps. (just trying the idea on)
At the Steem level they should market to and use the reward pool to fund apps.
The apps, in turn will try to onboard, promote, and support their own users. If the model supports it they can give out rewards from the apps as well.
I'm just considering the idea. I can no longer say I would feel comfortable telling anyone they can be rewarded for content on Steem. While it is possible that is fading quickly. However, some of the apps, like busy.org still pull that off.
So yea, I think the idea that Steem is a platform for apps is pretty much a fact right? That's always the way I've thought of it and explained it to other people.
But I think the main thing I like about what you were saying is when it comes to promotion, promoting individual Dapps. Trying to promote Steem is like promoting Windows or iOS, they do it, but it's usually just people dancing or something because the only thing they could advertize is a bunch of technical stuff regular people don't care about, so they each just try to seem "cooler" than the alternative.
I think the rewarding of content just has to do with how many people are here, and what they want to do with their SP. Any whale or pod of dolphins could start a curation initiative to reward whatever type of content they'd like to see, but I think the mood right now is more around "How do we save Steem?" and I think a focus on curating content is more like a thing to do in the good times. I dunno I could be wrong about that, just what it feels like to me. Thanks for taking the time to read and reply :)