Can you clarify what you mean by submissions from independent blogs? You seem to be saying that the new users are bots or something from media/marketing ? Or am i reading too much iwmto this...
I.e. submissions not from YouTube, Imgur, nytimes, etc. submissions from actual people with a point of view, where you can subscribe if you want to learn more. Think Fred Wilson, Seth Godin, Venkatesh Rao, Gwern, etc. writing on their own domain, or at least on their own subdomain where they pay for hosting.