There are many active users here, but they do tend to cluster around and respond to posts that are already popular and made by well-known users. To get to a point where more users create and interact with original content, we need a broader user base. That just takes time, and a fuller feature set. The site is still in beta.

The bot problem is being addressed. Have a read here for example:

https://steemit.com/steemit/@dantheman/notice-to-bot-spammers