Oh absolutely. I'm sure someone has a much better handle on those "under the hood" numbers, I just have gut feeling and anecdotal observations!
I saw a new member in Steemit chat the other day trying to figure out how they had earned some Steem in their wallet without ever having posted. One of the veterans pointed out that it had come from an upvote on one of their comments. There was a lightbulb moment when the new member realized that commenting made them an "author." They didn't have to craft a blog post to participate in the system and be rewarded.
It'll be pretty cool to see light bulbs clicking on all over the place, but we're not there quite yet.
If you haven't been following recent communications, it's also worth noting the Steemit team is working to get community features out ASAP. Possibly by the end of Q2. I believe these will be crucial in raising all the metrics you mentioned!