I appreciate the encouraging words!

Communities are essential, to be sure. Let's consider how people USE the web, and social media. These days, very few people talk about being "ON Facebook" as a standalone idea. Most users have Facebook accounts so they can access groups or pages they are interested in. Nobody says "Join Facebook," people say "find my PAGE on Facebook," or perhaps "Join XYZ community on Facebook!" The base level Facebook has just become a framework, but not the star of the show. I believe Steemit is moving in that direction, as well... people will become directed towards country communities or interest groups, with Steemit merely being the "wrapper."

I'll probably write more about that, and on the code end, there might also be a place to support community development via subdomains: For example, the post was created via the Xpilar community... but for marketing purposes, why not have an actual domain called "xpilar.steemit.com?" Or any number of other things.... aceh.steemit.com, foodies.steemit.com, etc. Again, too much to explore and explain in a comment...

And then, the all-important issue of retention. It doesn't mean much to get a bunch of accounts created if their owners aren't actually active.