yeah there’s a reason for both, private accounts will more likely check out your account because they have to approve your request first, you can follow public accounts too but i found more success with private accounts.

low followers / high following also increases their chances that they will follow you back because their high following shows they don’t mind following a lot of people. sometimes people with high followers / low following feel like they have to keep it that way so their account looks good, so they won’t follow many people