the claps on Medium don't have a direct value. They factor into their algorithms but more as an indication of the level of response to a story. Each member can 'clap' up to 50 times on a post. If you generally clap say 20 times on a post and then a good one you post 30 .. the algorithm picks up that you liked that post more.
Claps are not the only form of engagement on a post. You can select and highlight text within the post which the system picks up. The author receives notice of what has been highlighted which is a neat feature in that the author gets a sense of what resonates with their readers.
I've been cross-posting content that I post on Steem to there. By posting to my blog using Steempress and then importing from my blog to Medium I avoid duplicate content penalties.
Like Steem, there is some good content over there and there is some crap. Like Steem a lot of regular folks are earning an income as writers. One lady in particular that I'm aware of has been able to quit her dead end job and go full time writing on there while raising her daughter.
Steem is my first love but some of these others sites enable writers to expand their scope and their income.