Monetizing ppl's content to directly pay themselves is a great idea! Any platform with such idea will attract some serious early adaptors. But the growth of the system depends on how genuine and realistic was the idea and business model.
Steemit is at the stage of such judgment!

But about the price and value of steem, i prefer to watch steem/eth or steem/btc rather than steem/usd
they tell you more! And the slow bleeding you mentioned should be proven there not against fiats.