Steemians who have higher Steem Power, they have more influence on Steemit. If they give upvote to your post, you will get more reward. People usually want to have a good relationship with Steemians who have higher SP. They are treated like VIP.
I follow people because of their content and personality. Of course, I also like to follow people with higher SP. But the amount of Steem Power in their wallets does not determine whether I follow him or her. If someone is friendly, positive, has a good sense of humor, and writes good content, I love to follow them. And I actually follow those Steemians.
There are so many people on Steemit. It is really hard to stand out. Even if you write good content, but people don't know you, you will not get much attention. And you will not get much rewards on your post. Having a good relationship is very important to succeed in Steemit. Whether you like it or not, people prefer to follow and like content whom they like personally.
There are different curation projects running in different communities, but that's not enough. Your post might get upvote once. Some communities may feature your posts. But you need people who really like you and love your content. People like to follow people with higher SP with a view to getting upvote on the posts.
When I folllow someone on Stemmit, wallets do not have much influence whether I will follow that person or not. Thank you for your question.