It does have a few flaws. Popularity shouldnt be based on followers but rather on organic support. Thats a much more complex thing to pull off then just basing a listing on follower number.
Take the guy that has 4 posts right now in top trending with bots and 4000 Followers.
But a shift in top exposed authors needs to happen. This might not be it, but the idea is there.
Its not only based on followers, rather it is calculated by reputation x percentage of vote x number of followers (will actually be followers_vest)
Time will tell, if we need to make it even more strict to avoid spammers!