Is Steemit a Social network or crypto currency manipulation scheme?

I haven’t been here long. After looking around it sure seems like there is a lot of account manipulation going on to maximize the currency. Most people will definitely be turned off by this unless the currency hawks fade a bit. The trending page is not something most people find interesting. I think crypto currency is the future of free societies, however most folks are not tuned in yet. Just spit balling some ideas.