Absolutely! Actually we already had peaks of bigger traffic and it was great to have the view counter in order to track it. Professionally implemented it can be smart marketing for the whole network.

Here's my take on the bid bot hype :-)
Burning your SBD for trending positions is as if you did the following in real life: You create a new soft drink nobody knows and then buy yourself one single TV spot in the prime time every three days. So you temporarily get maximum attention for an unknown product. How many people who watched your spot would remember your drink the next time they're in the grocery's shop? :-)

This type of promotion won't bring you sustainable growth, unless your brand had been already big before. So I fully agree on what you said: in the long run it only helps those who already had a name on steemit. Nobody will remember that one guy who was once on the trending page 2 weeks ago.

It reminds me of a rat race. The only ones who seriously profit are the vote sellers.