That’s it. I used it as a barometer in the same way you did.
About nine months ago I published a post on how to properly embed YouTube videos on Steemit. I think it was my best article with regards to reach and I loved seeing the view count constantly increasing, even though the article was already old.
Maybe there are other ways to track the numbers, but it was great to have it as an included feature.
Thanks for sharing your perspective! :-)