I'm not sure where I read that being first was beneficial, or if I even read it, or if I just inferred that from something I read.

Everyone who votes the post up is a curator. The greater percentage increase in total votes your vote adds, the larger the share of the curator rewards you get. -dantheman

Above is the latest quote I can find concerning curators. I hope dantheman can clear it up for us all. The source to the above quote is here ... https://steemit.com/steem/@dantheman/how-to-interpret-steemits-post-valuations ... but I'm not really following all of it just yet. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what's being said in that post and whether or not being first has any benefit whatsoever.