A Nostr client with no concept of "follows", you just get shown some content from selected relays, then if you like -- or if you read (your local client would know by your clicking or how much time your spent on each thread, no one else) -- that person gets added to a dynamic ranking of possible interests, so you start to softly "follow" them (by which I mean the client fetches their notes specifically from their relays). As you interact with new notes and new people that dynamic list changes.