Discussions are a good accelerator of community growth, a good connector.

Not many lively discussions on steemit.

So maybe I should try this genre too once later.

Perhaps their "secret" is that making connections is as important to them as the actual process of creating content.

An interesting idea.

I can continue with an assumption that some types of personalities are represented among those community-builders oftener than among others. Some types of people have basic or more advanced skills of writers, bloggers, journalists, but not everyone chooses one of these professions, not everyone actually needs this sort of job. These folk not only tend to write but also are better at constructing virtual personalities in their heads. And this is how they can create good connections to community members -- they can mentally see them behind letters and numbers. They express this vision with words (ideas, emotions, attitude) and that makes the community be something real, as you said.

I like 16 personalities' classification (Myers–Briggs Type Indicator) and I sometimes try to understand people (and myself) by means of it. Would be interesting to test people who are active on steemit and to see what types are present here. I guess, this one can be found on blogging platforms like steemit.com oftener than in real life.

Just a theory.