RE: How many of the upvotes are done by paid voting bots?

I think every cent counts, at least up to 0.001 which is the smallest fraction that can be transacted on the Steem blockchain.

I also think all Steemians, even minnows, are useful hooks to catch more users. Network effects works on the fact that somebody you know is already using Steem.

The billions of Facebook users were attracted to Facebook by the first few million users who again were attracted by the first few thousand users. It grew from college students to middle aged parents to aged grandparents.