I cannot answer your questions directly, but page view information is available for all Wikipedia articles.

https://pageviews.wmcloud.org/

Is read count the metric we're using?

I don't know, but surely there should be a metric, and I don't think number of entries is a good one.

It is also an effect that drives itself. If you look for someone and they essentially don't exist online, you are less likely to tell a friend about this person because you don't learn as much about them, which then drives even fewer views to the page. Now that they exist, it might take years before one can tell something based on views.

Searches are hard to map, because searching for POTUS 2008 might get you to Barack's article... but only if it exists. Wouldn't know that someone was looking for this person if they don't type the name exactly and correctly.

It got this woman some publicity.