You hit the nail on the head. The bull is certainly going to bring in more people which means the reward pool will be spread over more posts. Plus, I think SMTs are going to be adopted which means there will be a lot people earning minimal amounts of STEEM in rewards. Although not of great impact individually, if there are a couple hundred thousands taking .01-.05, that all adds up.
The SMTs are going to see SE but on a larger scale in my opinion. SE was the test case which provide the tribe (community) idea is viable.