The reward aspect of Steemit is noble, but as usual, it brings out the worst in us - greed.
As I wrote in my post, content comes second and Steemit isn't a photosharing platform like instagram. Unless you have a whale friend, payout is linked to how much of a active following you produce and how fat their wallets are :P
(The thing that sometimes makes me mad are people talking about how much they have worked to get their big payouts. When I look at their votes, there's always the same whales upvoting pointless content. Stop saying you work hard, when all there is, is a whale friend.)