one will never be certain if their friend is really who they seem to be, or if they are just acting as such to advance their Steemit career.

I never actually thought of Steemit as a career o_O

Other than that and I've noticed it already being mentioned in the comments a few times, it sounds a bit like real life to me :) I don't think the problem there is restricted to monetary incentive, attention seems to do just fine as well, if some of the other websites I've been haunting are anything to go by.