It is all just numbers, but many people like distinct things to aim for. So, what we want is good engagement and that can lead to more Steem. There are those who only care about the money, but they are not the ones who make it fun to be here.
My minnow building project is really about getting people to stick around.
To be fair I got my start thanks to some votes from the @curie project and even lately they're still one of my biggest sources of actual steem earnings. Those projects can be great. I like curie because they don't focus as much on how much steem power the people have, it's more about the kind of content they create.