At some point, everyone was talking about it, I've even seen people in the introduction section writing how they quit their full-time jobs, etc... just to stay with Steem and now, It's pretty much gone with ~100m $ market cap while It was almost 300m $
the problem is not the value of steem. the problem is how it works. you can't earn something without the "help" of the "whales". or you have to buy a lot of steel from the "whales" to be able to vote yourself.