I think this is a really interesting post - that demonstrates the different viewpoints of what Steemit is all about.
Personally I would fall into your camp, of an interest experiment and platform, that would offer a social network which rewards content-creator rather than a some group of shareholder.
There are however many here, you see the social media platform as being totally subservient to Steem and Steempower as an invest. This people tend to advocate the pumping of 'sensationalist' content in an effort to quickly broaden appeal and drive the price of Steem higher.
Interesting how all this is going to play out in the community. I think the founders are more in the middle, and I've heard there are plans to reconfigure the payout system to try and strike a balance between 'viral' content and more long-form content.