Mechanical Turk

Today's featured WAH opportunity is Amazon's Mechanical Turk program that can be found at mturk.com. For those of you unaware of cloud sourcing I will explain. Companies break up larger tasks into smaller tasks that they release to workers. With Mechanical Turk those smaller tasks are called hits. Following the instructions for these smaller tasks they complete them in a certain amount of time given. When approved they are paid for the work they have performed and the company has their larger task completed.

Amazon's program is another good program for someone just getting started in WAH. It does not require a hiring process. You sign up and get started right away. Now, most of the tasks have a small pay amount, but some are higher. Also, you will find some of the higher paying tasks are really just put there by requestors trying to get you to sign up for a service. I tend to think most of these seem to be scammy and do not work with them. I had a bad experience with one as I completed the task correctly and they ended up rejecting my work anyway. Therefore they were not required to pay me. Personally, that's why I stay away from those types of mturk work. You will find what tasks you like working on what ones you don't. Some requestors allow you to sign up for email notifications that let you know when they have more work is available on the site. My favorite type of mturk hits are those that require internet research, research studies, and typing out business card information.

When going through the different hits or work available to you they note whether or not you are able to work on that particular one based on the criteria that the requestor has submitted. For instance, one may require that you have already been approved on 100 tasks before you are able to work on their tasks. Others may require you to take a test. Just be sure to read the instructions completely before accepting a hit. When your task is approved you are paid the amount that you earned into your mTurk account. You are able to transfer that money to your bank account once you hit a threshold of $10.00 or you can apply your payments towards Amazon.com purchases.

Pros –

• Anyone can sign up and start working right away
  
• Pays by Electronic Transfer or can be used for Amazon purchases
  
• Low pay threshold
  
• Pick and choose what work you want to do
  
• Can be worked alongside with other WAH positions
  
• Some work may offer a bonus
  
• No schedule or minimum hour commitment
  

Cons –

• Low pay per task
  
• Possible rejection from bad requestors
  

Overall, I think that mTurk can offer you some possibilities, especially when just getting started. The pros outweigh the cons by a big margin. The best way to find out if mTurk works for you is to sign up and get started trying out some hits.