More stuff about how Strava works, and how terribly disappointing it is:
Kudos. You don't get more kudos because your ride is more kudos-worthy, you get more because people have some occasion to check Strava. If there's some big event ride that happened, even if you don't participate and just make a lazy coffee run instead - Kudos come pouring in. Do some mega ride in the middle of the week, braving the elements to collect all kinds of medals: crickets (just those random riders you've never met who just seem to just follow as many people as possible). Of course, unless one wins a trophy, a person would have to do some serious digging to discern whether the PRs one got were significant - there's no ready way of telling when someone leapt up the leaderboard. VeloViewer has some great metrics in that regard, but there isn't the critical mass of followers, and it doesn't have the social media aspect.