I have no idea to be honest with you because I also get upvotes from whales who'm I didn't pay to get an upvote. Also, with every upvote you receive from someone with higher rep than you it increases your rep. And I have a lot of followers who regularly upvote me who have slightly higher rep than me. I wouldn't think that it's that much of a factor.. but it's definitely played a part in building my rep.