let me add my comment here my friend...everything rentmoney said is correct but i dont think if you understand what he said cause i see you are new...
let me tell you...what makes you strong in the whole hive-blockchain is you STAKED power...your HIVE POWER
this is HIVE tokens which are staked...lets say locked...
the more you stake (power up) ,the stronger you get cause you get a bigger piece from the whole pie
as rentmoney said more staked HIVE means bigger upvote rewards
so if you hold 50 hive power , your upvote lets say is 0.05 HIVE
if you hold 200 hive ,your upvote will be higher lets say 0.1 HIVE
and remember when you upvote-curate , 50% goes to the user you upvote and 50% goes straight to your wallet
i hope you understand
Thanks friend, this helps clarify my confusion about powering up.