I think this is a great analysis of the current trends of steemit and kudos to you for breaking it down. I think as users become familiar with steemit we will see less of the popularity and addictive based posts. It will be interesting to see what users feel brings the most value to this platform and what demographic will ultimately rise to the top and dictate the most popular content. I also feel that people are attempting to write outside their strengths. As @piedpiper posted on his vlog recently and as most people correctly assumed, once a makeup post hit 30k an influx of makeup tutorials flooded the feed. Instead of trying to jump on the popular trend, people should attempt to carve their own niche. I guess we will all see what people want the most in the near future.