This is all pretty much on target except wasn't steemit meant to be something different. If all the same old social media tricks work isn't steemit just another social media platform waiting to be whored out to marketing cultures with clever content creating bots and a good collection of pretty girl pics.
That isn't what I saw advertised on the steemit front page.
That is how he did it..doesn't mean it will work for everyone.
We can see the results. Have a look at what is trending what is hot. Its the same cringe worthy crap that pays to maintain dominance on other sites. The difference is that the reward for doing so is direct and offers additional power to manipulate.