People will inevitably support those they know or feel affinity for. Circle jerking and mutual support are variations of the same theme, but we already see groups voting up each others junk posts purely for profit. In some cases there are hundreds of accounts involved, but it may be just a few real people. Some people will attempt to counteract those.

There could be benefits to groups of people moving to Steem, e.g. a band and their fans. The fans could vote up the band's posts, but that should still leave plenty of votes to support others too. The band could offer music, tickets or merch for Steem. They could do what they might do on a Facebook page or a forum, but with a financial element. There are plenty of minor bands with thousands of fans who could have a real impact on Steem activity.

I've been discussing Steem with some friends on Facebook. They bring up the issue of complexity, but that is a side-effect of being decentralised. One is very concerned that certain far right figures are active here, but that is a free speech issue. We can have total freedom or submit to someone having overall control. I think freedom is preferable.