I'm a new Steemy. The reason I think that your seeing an increase in sign-ups is due to the fact that popular youtubers are "mentioning" it as an alternative for their current videos. I will also add that the sign up time for a new account is lengthy. It took me nearly 2 weeks to get my account approved. I had forgotten about the sign up until I received my email notification to complete my registration. I would say given our society today, that this is unacceptable, but the technology has merit, hopefully Steemit can fix the time frame for approving accounts.