I think they're going about this the wrong way. The primary problem they should be trying to solve is that it's fairly tough for a new user to join the ecosyst

I think they're going about this the wrong way. The primary problem they should be trying to solve is that it's fairly tough for a new user to join the ecosystem, get his friends to follow him, etc. It's difficult for a new content-creator to get started. Much harder than with Facebook, LinkedIn, and even Google+.