I feel that their should be rewards for people that are early to upvote content that becomes very successful. (This may be in place, but it is not been a concrete fact in my mind). This will keep people checking the new feed instead of only what is trending.

And while I love the feed of people I follow, at the same time when I'm looking at all my favorite posters, I am not discovering new people. This would frustrate me if I was in their shoes. Not everyone is incredibly creative, but everyone has the ability to make interesting content about something they enjoy. 

Rewarding people for looking in the new feed should be encouraged. And also for new users there is almost no reward for curating. I don't know how to fix that, but it should be addressed. 

Also the first #introduceyourself post should have its own feed and rewards increased to encourage people when they start out. Even giving just a higher percentage to the poster and a smaller amount to the curators would be ok. Like 85% to the poster for their first post in a certain tag and then back to normal for others. 

The more new people can be engaged and have contests and things where they feel they are being heard, the better. If steemit doesn't keep up the userbase it will not be as successful as it could be.