I think the the future of steem will largely depend on growth of its userbase. If it is regularly getting more eyeballs on its content, then the value should increase. The community seems committed to trying new and crazy ideas to get new users and keep them engaged.
that is true about all other projects too. when they attract more people it means more investors and less dumpers. but people are not going to be attracted to random projects just because they advertise, they have to have some real attraction that does it on its own.
take bitcoin for example, people will always invest in it because of the profit and the future. and also because it has some real world application as a currency which attracts users.
but what does steem offer?