I really like the way you broke down the way this works! "The cloud" may just generally be someone else's computer, but the decentralized infrastructure built around a blockchain like Steemit seems a better fit to the concept. While the currency earning aspect itself is definitely a draw, the ability to resist censure is also one of the things I think most fascinating about the platform.
Hopefully Steemit will someday grow to something approaching Facebook's userbase (and market cap)!