EA Facebook Group Greatest Hits: Top 50 Posts by Total Reactions
In the latest Open Thread, RandomEA requested that someone compile the top posts from the EA Facebook group. I gather Facebook doesn’t provide group admins a way to do this, so I decided to attempt it as an opportunity to try my hand at web scraping.
Below are the top 50 posts ranked by total number of “reactions”. [Edit for clarity: This includes likes as well as the other options such as “love”, “haha”, “angry”, etc. It does not include comments/shares.] (Getting the correct number of comments is proving more complex, but I’m still hoping to work this out and post a follow up of top posts by number of comments.)
At RandomEA’s suggestion, I’ve used the post author’s initials, unless they’re a prominent EA. I erred on the side of caution here, so apologies if you’re more prominent than I realize :)
Finally, if you’re working on an EA project that could benefit from some amount of data scraping or automation, I’d be happy to help if I can.
Without further ado...
Top 50 EA Facebook Group Posts by Total Reactions as of 8/19/2018
Edit: Here’s a spreadsheet of all posts with 50+ “reactions”. Apologies for formatting weirdness past the first 50.
1)
Post Author: M. P.
Year: 2017
Post Text: When EAs think about reducing misery, they tend to think about alleviating poverty. However, there’s increasing amounts of evidence (e.g. linked article) that mental illness is a better predictor of misery than poverty. My concern is that EA is neglecting mental health, which may in fact be a more cost-effective way to increase happiness(/reduce suffering) than fighting poverty[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1438844792838540Link Title: A new study tries to unpick what makes people happy and sad | economist.com
2)
Post Author: P. H.
Year: 2014
Post Text: EA Onion Article Headlines[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/722086321181061
3)
Post Author: M. R.
Year: 2016
Post Text: Mr. Money Mustache (personal finance blogger) just donated $55k to EA charities and blogged about it!
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1191261150930240Link Title: Notes on Giving Away my First $100,000 | mrmoneymustache.com
Link URL:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2016/10/26/notes-on-giving-away-100000/
4)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2015
Post Text: William takes 5 criticisms of Zuckerberg to pieces[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/971385786251112Link Title: 5 criticisms of billionaire mega-philanthropy, debunked | qz.com
Link URL:
http://qz.com/564805/5-criticisms-of-billionaire-mega-philanthropy-debunked/
5)
Post Author: T. E.
Year: 2017
Post Text: [...]if you feel that promoting fruitful discussion about EA is important, then I would encourage you to consider the norms of discourse that participants are setting[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1483129485076737Link Title: The power of vulnerability | Brené Brown | youtube.com
Link URL:
https://youtu.be/iCvmsMzlF7o
6)
Post Author: L. F.
Year: 2017
Post Text: Someone send this photo to Peter Singer!
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1535784323144586Link Title: Groom saves child from drowning in river | bbc.com
Link URL:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41391191
7)
Post Author: J. W.
Year: 2015
Post Text: Welcome to the Effective Altruism Facebook group! If you’re wondering what Effective Altruism is, check out the link below[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/869423193114039Link Title: Introduction to Effective Altruism—Effective Altruism Forum | effective-altruism.com
Link URL:
http://effective-altruism.com/ea/6x/introduction_to_effective_altruism/
8)
Post Author: D. W.
Year: 2017
Post Text: [...]I’ve made a browser extension so that when you buy something online portion of the money goes to charities recommended by GiveWell[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1485731218149897Link Title: Do good just by shopping online | altruisto.com
Link URL:
https://t.co/kYYVV2bEzI
9)
Post Author: G. B.
Year: 2015
Post Text: We are really excited to announce that 80,000 Hours got into the world’s leading startup incubator Y Combinator[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/911770118879346Link Title: Want To Make An Impact With Your Work? Try Some Advice From 80,000 Hours | techcrunch.com
Link URL:
http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/04/80000-hours/
10)
Post Author: J. B.
Year: 2016
Post Text: Effective altruist: “Instead of donating to charity A, I’m picking charity B because doing so does measurably more good.”[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1072687309454292
11)
Post Author: M. D.
Year: 2018
Post Text: I’m pleased to announce the second edition of the effective altruism handbook[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1750780338311649Link Title: Effective Altruism Handbook: 2nd Edition
12)
Post Author: William MacAskill
Year: 2015
Post Text: Peter Singer is running a MOOC on Effective Altruism. Cool, eh? Sign up if you want to learn more:
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/850791891643836Link Title: www.coursera.org | coursera.org
Link URL:
https://www.coursera.org/course/effectivealtruism
13)
Post Author: S. S.
Year: 2016
Post Text: London School of Economics will give a half-unit course on EA and related themes the coming academic year. Hopefully more top universities will follow.
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1119954564727566Link Title: New for 2016/7—Effective Philanthropy: Ethics and Evidence | lse.ac.uk
14)
Post Author: N. B.
Year: 2017
Post Text: Article co-written by Peter Singer, making the (I think) extremely valid point that depression can wipe out almost all the joy of living; so mental health might be a very worthwhile cause area[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1585281791528172Link Title: The Moral Urgency Of Mental Health | plantinghappiness.co.uk
Link URL:
http://www.plantinghappiness.co.uk/the-moral-urgency-of-mental-health/
15)
Post Author: Ben Henry
Year: 2017
Post Text: “I try to donate the money I make above minimum wage. Since I average about 60 hours per week of work, I have a concrete goal of spending less than $22,620 per year[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1292362717486749Link Title: Living on minimum wage to maximize donations: Ben’s expenses in 2016 - Effective Altruism Forum | effective-altruism.com
Link URL:
http://effective-altruism.com/ea/16n/living_on_minimum_wage_to_maximize_donations_bens/
16)
Post Author: E. E.
Year: 2016
Post Text: Wanted: Intern Hi everybody. I’m a State Representative in New Hampshire, and a friend has persuaded me to cast out a line for an intern[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1225601250829563
17)
Post Author: J. S.
Year: 2016
Post Text: I just met Karen Anderson, Obama’s former Chief of Staff for the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and a long time “establishment” policy person. I was happy to hear her describe that the past few years has seen a “revolutionary” emphasis on data and evidence across all levels of government. In her view, this new way of thinking has become so engrained in bureaucracies that there’s “no going back,” even with a Trump presidency. So that’s cool.
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1031707346885622
18)
Post Author: William MacAskill
Year: 2016
Post Text: The White’s Chair of Moral Philosophy at Oxford, Jeff McMahan, has written a response to some critics of effective altruism[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1048302615226095Link Title: Philosophical Critiques of Effective Altruism | www.academia.edu
Link URL:
https://www.academia.edu/24333624/Philosophical_Critiques_of_Effective_Altruism
19)
Post Author: J. W.
Year: 2017
Post Text: New charity recommendations from GiveWell:
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1593556857367332Link Title: Our top charities for giving season 2017 - The GiveWell Blog | blog.givewell.org
Link URL:
https://blog.givewell.org/2017/11/27/our-top-charities-for-giving-season-2017/
20)
Post Author: Benjamin Todd
Year: 2016
Post Text: I still find it very embarrassing to watch, but my TEDx talk has continued to pick up 10-20k views per month, and just broke through 100,000[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1008170252572665Link Title: To find work you love, don’t follow your passion | Benjamin Todd | TEDxYouth@Tallinn | youtube.com
21)
Post Author: William MacAskill
Year: 2015
Post Text: “Last winter, William MacAskill and his wife Amanda moved into a Union Square apartment that I was sharing with several friends in New York[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/885873524802339Link Title: The Most Efficient Way to Save a Life | theatlantic.com
22)
Post Author: William MacAskill
Year: 2014
Post Text: Journalist Uri Bram has written a very nice (though somewhat embarrassing) feature piece about me for Cafe. (though the title—which is never the journalist’s decision—is misleading!! “plans to give” is accurate)[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/763055910417435Link Title: This Cambridge Philosopher Gives Away 60% of Everything He Earns | cafe.com
23)
Post Author: D. F.
Year: 2017
Post Text: Profile of John and Laura Arnold, a billionaire couple who spend money on improving science in a very EA style[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1287467264642961Link Title: The Young Billionaire Behind the War on Bad Science | wired.com
Link URL:
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/john-arnold-waging-war-on-bad-science/
24)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2015
Post Text: From seeing statistics on the 80,000 Hours page, my impression is that an extra ‘like’ on a post means it gets put into an extra 100-200 people’s Facebook feeds, and drives 2-6 extra clicks on the link. This isn’t a reason to click ‘like’ on everything, but likes are a real way of upvoting something that you think deserves more attention than other posts on Facebook.
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/937309016325456
25)
Post Author: L. C.
Year: 2015
Post Text: Hello all! I’m currently reading for a PhD in moral psychology at Oxford University. In particular, I focus on the psychology of effective altruism, and would like to gather ideas for future research in this area[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/957417337647957
26)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2015
Post Text: The Centre for Effective Altruism is going brilliantly at the moment, so I want to fill you all in on some of the cool stuff that has been happening[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/808952369161122
27)
Post Author: S. M.
Year: 2016
Post Text: Hello EA! My name is Sean and I’m a member of Harvard EA. I am on the verge of successfully completing treatment for my 2nd bout with brain cancer. After finishing, I’m considering a bike trip from Boston to Florida to raise money for an effective initiative that may or may not be cancer related. Although cancer may be the most coherent option media-wise considering my personal experience, I’d like to both make the biggest impact possible and promote the idea of doing so. Any suggestions for the best initiative? I’m open to all suggestions.
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1065583520164671
28)
Post Author: E. G.
Year: 2016
Post Text: [...]At EAGx Oxford we had a great workshop organised by Jess Whittlestone entitled “Conversations on Motivation” the aim of which was to hear leaders in the EA movement discuss how they stay motivated and mentally healthy under (often enormous) pressure, as well as how EAs in general can take care of their mental health while expending a lot of energy thinking, studying and working hard[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1222846544438367Link Title: How to Get Therapy | gruntledandhinged.com
Link URL:
https://gruntledandhinged.com/how-to-get-therapy/
29)
Post Author: O. K.
Year: 2018
Post Text: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/11/paraguay-declared-free-of-malaria-by-who
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1790960017627014Link Title: Paraguay declared free of malaria by WHO | theguardian.com
Link URL:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jun/11/paraguay-declared-free-of-malaria-by-who
30)
Post Author: M. P.
Year: 2018
Post Text: Happiness For EAs: A Reading List
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1706659429390407Link Title: Happiness for Effective Altruists | docs.google.com
Link URL:
https://bit.ly/2FKsxHu
31)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2015
Post Text: [...]Lately I have had the uncanny experience of reading supposed ‘rebuttals’ of effective altruism that just say a bunch of things that I and most of my colleagues agree with. As we are some of the most involved people in the effective altruism movement, this is strange to say the least[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/901892973200394Link Title: Disagreeing about what’s effective isn’t disagreeing with effective altruism − 80,000 Hours | 80000hours.org
32)
Post Author: William MacAskill
Year: 2014
Post Text: Here’s an edited conversation I had with Peter Buffett. We’re now friends.
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/672644519458575Link Title: Peter Buffett: Philanthropy disguises itself as a fix when it’s a part of the problem | qz.com
33)
Post Author: A. D.
Year: 2017
Post Text: Peter Singer is now on the “no-platform” list, shut down by student protestors.
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1325583194164701Link Title: The Martlet Protesters crash effective altruism debate | martlet.ca
34)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2017
Post Text: “Over the last decade, American donations to fight malaria in Africa have saved the lives of nearly two million children[...]”
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1447292125327140Link Title: U.S. Malaria Donations Saved Almost 2 Million African Children | nytimes.com
Link URL:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/26/health/us-foreign-aid-malaria.html
35)
Post Author: E. O.
Year: 2016
Post Text: Interesting new EA approach using the markets to reduce suffering: Mercy For Animals announced this morning it has launched a new sister non-profit, The Good Food Institute[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1018244721565218Link Title: The Good Food Institute | thegoodfoodinstitute.org
36)
Post Author: M. S.
Year: 2017
Post Text: “We have an experiment of helping a starving child. A certain percentage of people help [by donating money to the kid]. Then we have another condition with a different group, same child, same situation, except we put the numbers of the statistics of starvation next to her picture, and the donations dropped in half[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1473919009331118Link Title: A psychologist explains the hard limits of human compassion | vox.com
Link URL:
https://www.vox.com/explainers/2017/7/19/15925506/psychic-numbing-paul-slovic-apathy
37)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2016
Post Text: The inspiring story of one of the coolest people in our community: “Today Tara Mac Aulay is the head of operations in the Centre for Effective Altruism[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1005512029505154Link Title: We can learn a lot from Tara, who left pharmacy to work in effective altruism − 80,000 Hours | 80000hours.org
38)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2015
Post Text: Bad news for the effectiveness of mass deworming I’m afraid (failure to replicate in a reanalysis). (Edit: Or is it just a beat up? Many think so[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/905727689483589Link Title: Scientists Are Hoarding Data And It’s Ruining Medical Research | buzzfeed.com
Link URL:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/bengoldacre/deworming-trials
39)
Post Author: A. V.
Year: 2017
Post Text: Many Effective Altruists think about moving to the San Francisco Bay Area, or have already done so. There are many good reasons to move[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1366133853442968Link Title: San Francisco has highest rent prices in the world, claims housing startup | sf.curbed.com
Link URL:
http://sf.curbed.com/2017/2/22/14700442/san-francisco-rents-highest-world-price
40)
Post Author: Ben Henry
Year: 2015
Post Text: The steadily declining fraction of the world in extreme poverty.
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/917044901685201Link Title: In 1820, you had a 94 percent chance of being in extreme poverty. Today, it’s 14 percent. | vox.com
Link URL:
http://www.vox.com/2015/8/13/9145467/extreme-poverty-global-poverty
41)
Post Author: Claire Zabel
Year: 2016
Post Text: I think ethical offsetting is a bad meme for EAs to spread, and I wrote about it[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/987226221333735Link Title: Ethical offsetting is antithetical to EA—Effective Altruism Forum | effective-altruism.com
Link URL:
http://effective-altruism.com/ea/ry/ethical_offsetting_is_antithetical_to_ea/
42)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2015
Post Text: A common misunderstanding is that effective altruism = earning to give. This is definitely not the case; at 80,000 Hours we believe most of us should be doing good directly, not earning to give:[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/897081207014904Link Title: 80,000 Hours thinks that only a small proportion of people should earn to give long-term | 80000hours.org
43)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2016
Post Text: 80,000 Hours’ book has just been released in paperback and Kindle[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1241832565873098Link Title: 80,000 Hours: Now Available in Paperback and Kindle (Amazon) | amazon.com
44)
Post Author: S. W.
Year: 2017
Post Text: Two EAs published in the New York Times today! Please share widely.
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1408427472546939Link Title: Opinion | Health Leaders Must Focus on the Threats From Factory Farms | nytimes.com
Link URL:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/21/opinion/who-factory-farming-meat-industry-.html
45)
Post Author: R. D.
Year: 2016
Post Text: REG has reached the milestone of over $1,000,000 in funds raised for effective charities[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1013855918670765Link Title: REG has officially raised $1MM for highly effective charities! | reg-charity.org
Link URL:
http://reg-charity.org/reg-has-officially-raised-1mm-for-highly-effective-charities/
46)
Post Author: M. R.
Year: 2016
Post Text: I personally don’t need/like luxury. However, as a lawyer, when I drive a shitty car, the message that people are probably reading is: I’m not successful, so I’m a really bad lawyer. I think that bumper stickers or stickers in general with a message which would mean: ″I’m driving this because I believe in donating to charity″ or ″I enjoy giving more than I enjoy possessions″ . I don’t think I’m the only one who feels I would need to look more successful. Any thoughts?
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1094771537245869
47)
Post Author: Joey Savoie
Year: 2016
Post Text: Really excited to announce Charity Science Health has received a grant from GiveWell Experimental. The full writeup can be found here
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1211165012273187Link Title: Charity Science: Health—General Support | GiveWellgivewell.org
48)
Post Author: K. Y.
Year: 2015
Post Text: I would like to ask the admins of this group to make a tiny change. Could the group please be named “Effective Altruism”? The reasoning is that “Effective Altruists” identifies a set of people, to which some belong and some do not. It doesn’t leave room for people who are interested in the topic of effective altruism but might not yet identify that way[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/923418271047864
49)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2016
Post Text: Another interview with a complete baller we know (including details you may not have heard): “Wave is one of the most socially impactful for-profit startups we are aware of and it was started by someone in the effective altruism community – Lincoln Quirk[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/1008295132560177Link Title: Doing good through for-profits: Wave and financial tech | 80000hours.org
Link URL:
https://80000hours.org/2016/02/doing-good-through-for-profits-lincoln-quirk-and-wave/
50)
Post Author: Robert Wiblin
Year: 2015
Post Text: Tim Ferriss just put up a mammoth 2.5 hour interview with William: “He is one of the few non-profit founders who have gone through Y Combinator; for-profit companies get $120,000 for 7% of equity; as a non-profit, 80,000 Hours got $100,000 for 0% of equity[...]
Post URL:
https://facebook.com/groups/437177563005273/permalink/966509006738790Link Title: Will MacAskill on Effective Altruism, Y Combinator, and Artificial Intelligence | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss | fourhourworkweek.com
Link URL:
http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/11/22/will-macaskill/
This may be the best moment of my life :) (no. 2 was leading the time I was top of the EA forum karma list...)
Out of interest, could you out how many reactions these got? I’d be curious to see what the distribution of reactions is.
Haha happy to have contributed to your best moment. I guess you can (re)name your first born after me or something :P
Sadly I don’t have a break out of how many of each reaction per post (if that’s what you mean). Only the total combined number of “likes”, “loves”, etc. per post. Although you can see that combined number in the spreadsheet I’ll add to this post (once I fix it...see my reply to RandomEA).
EDIT: Added the link to the updated google sheet in the post.
Thank you so much for doing this! Is the total number of reactions just the number of likes and comments or does it also include shares? And if you happen to have more than the top 50 (as you hinted at here), would you be willing to post just the links in a Google doc?
Ah I guess reactions is a bit ambiguous. By “reactions” I meant what Facebook calls “reactions”. This includes likes as well as the other options such as “love”, “haha”, “angry”, etc.
Claire’s previous list was based on “likes” but that was back before the other “reactions” existed so this seemed like the best analogue. I didn’t take into account comments/shares for this list. (Though as stated above, hoping to put together a separate list ranked by comments.) I’ve edited the post for clarity.
Great idea about sharing a larger list of links. Here’s a Google Sheet of all the posts with 50+ “reactions”. The post text/link titles will be a bit messy past the first 50. Enjoy!
EDIT: Ugh. I made a sorting error at some point while making that spreadsheet and some of the links are mismatched. I’ve unshared it for now and will add to the post once fixed. Stand by :)
EDIT 2: Updated the link above with the corrected sheet and also added to the body of the post. Should be all good now but feel free to leave a comment on it if you come across any link issues.