A unique views counter in the public UI (for blog posts) would make a great difference. It works with the incentive system which is steemit's edge and niche. Since steemit has a superior incentive system to any platform, makes sense to borrow any of the incentives that work on the other media sites as is possible.
Adding views would help for feedback when there is lack of replies and upvotes for people. and people 'fill in the blanks' themselves as to what views mean and how many is 'good' feedback to them. Whereas numbered dollar values have some anchoring (and disillusionment at times, currently). Enables for "self-curation" that isn't shooting in the dark
There definitely should be separation between "curating" and "cultivating" tone and content because it's obtuse to have hidden biases. There is some hostility sometimes yes. All of the fun of a monetized system! Just look at youtuber wars omg
Yeah, personally, I'd rather see a view counts in the feed than estimated payouts.