Bluesky 101: Because there's no algorithm here, "liking" a post doesn't have the same effect as on Twitter (i.e., it doesn't help more people see it). It's a nice gesture that tells the poster, "I appreciate you." But to help the post be seen by others, you need to repost it.
Does this mean we simply see every post by every person we follow?
Sometimes I see posts because people I follow have commented on them. But the new algorithm that says (I think) that I only see that if 2 people I follow have commented on it makes even that less likely now.
Liking a Reply can affect who sees it.
Better yet: discover feeds and custom algorithms!
There is not “no algorithm” here. That is Mastodon thinking. There are many feed algorithms here and any number of them can use the likes to rank the posts.
Some replies pointing out the “Discover” feed. I’ve never found it useful. Nevertheless, it remains true that if you want a particular post seen by your followers, repost it. Liking it won’t guarantee that it will be seen by your followers.