I think this is a really interesting experiment to preform. I also value the fact that you've taken the opportunity and risk to try out randowhale and promoting your posts. I did catch the post adil did about his promotion experiment and thought that it was real interesting that even that much $ (around $60usd for 30sbd at the time) didn't garner any reasonable reward. You'd think it would!

There's definitely something to be said about engaging comments. It's unfortunate when people don't comment. I wish they did more often because that tells me that the content I am working hard on has some sort of value for them.

I feel like what I post is interesting and I hope to some day reach the people that find it interesting as well. And hopefully get more true followers someday!

As for your questions, I don't know if rewarding comments will be successful because people seem to lack the want or need for interaction, or they think it's a waste of time? I'm not sure. This is why it's a valuable experiment in my eyes. I am eager to learn of the results.

I think one of the best ways to increase visibility is taking the time to comment on other people's blogs that you are interested in. For me, when someone actually takes the time to comment on my blog in a constructive manner, it makes me want to take a look at their own blog. If it's not a valuable comment in my eyes (like "Great post!"), I say "Thanks!" and have absolutely no urge to go look at their blog. To me, it seems like if they don't have anything great to say to me, why would they have something great on their own blog?

I am really torn on the idea of resteems. I love sharing content that I think is awesome, but then again, I really dislike that it clogs up my own blog feed. This is something I believe that the developers need to work on - being able to filter your feed for people's original content.

For your last question, what to you makes an incentive self sustainable?

PS. I have resteemed this post because I think that the idea you're rolling with is a good one. Your post here has made me take a minute to think about what you're talking about and I hope that it will make others take the time to think about whether or not their creating a good interaction with their followers. It's making me think about how I can create in a way that makes people want to comment.