On Steemit whales can make more whales and dolphins if they want

I was reading the following post, rather watching the video to understand why some post makes a lot of money while most don't.
https://steemit.com/steemit/@piedpiper/quick-answer-why-certain-posts-earn-so-much-more-than-others
The speaker tried to explain why steemit platform isn't rigged.
No system is this world is perfect, everywhere you have people trying to favor their own. For example in stock markets a group of wealthy investors can easily rig the prices of certain stocks. Even here there exists a possibility where whales can come together to make a minnow a dolphin or a small whale in no time.
You can clearly see examples of what I am saying if you look at the trending posts. You will find that a few introduceyourself post have received a value of a few thousand dollars in spite of being very ordinary.
Question is, what did the whales find interesting in these articles ? Or, is simply a case of favoring one's own.