So recently I have encountered a larger than usual amount of people/bots asking for upvotes or follows simply because they liked my post. I'm sure a lot of people go and follow these guys because it seems like a fair trade.
But really, you shouldn't follow someone or upvote a post if you don't truly like the content.
What is awesome about Steemit is that we as a community is curating and deciding what content is relevant and good. Therefore it is our duty to push quality content forward and not posts from people who you owe a upvote.
I try my best to keep my own integrity by not selling my upvote for others approval and neither should you.
I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I wish it would be.
Cheers, keep Steemit full of quality posts.