MTurk

For those unaware, Mechanical Turk is a service from Amazon where you can complete simple tasks in exchange for a tiny payment. For example, you might look at an image and describe it in ten words for $0.08. You might fill out a multiple-choice survey for $0.10. You might be asked to write a product review for $2.50. For the most part, the tasks available through Mechanical Turk are quick and very simple. The problem is that, individually, they’re not big earners. You have to do quite a few in an hour in order to earn anything of significance.

How does MTurk work?


MTurk is a market place for work that requires human intelligence. It was created by Amazon based on the idea that there are some things that humans beings can do much more effectively than computers. Such tasks include writing product descriptions, searching data details. translating, transcribing, rewriting/rewording sentences, and verifying contact information for businesses. Other tasks include writing descriptions of pictures or videos, identifying adult content, taking part in research studies and surveys, and writing short articles

Companies or developers that need tasks done can assess Amazon Turk’s market place of workers. Tasks are known as HITS (Human Intelligence Tasks) which are questions that need an answer.

What do you do in MTurk?


Many of the HITS are very simple, some of the HITs pay very little and are very time consuming. However, there are some gems, such as some surveys that only take about 5 minutes and pay $1.00 or more. Some good HITs are rewording sentences, these often only pay $0.02 to $0.04 each. Also the finding urls for a specific keyword which pay $0.10 to $0.16 and only takes a minute or two, they typically pay out quickly. Some HITS need qualifications which means you have to be qualified to do a certain HIT. You can be qualified by taking qualification test. Taking qualification tests is great because not only will you have more hits avaliable to you, but you can access high paying hits.

Is MTurk a scam?


Amazon Turk has been around since 2005 and is not a scam, however, there are some companies who use Mechanical Turk to hire workers and not pay at all. Fortunately, there are ways to avoid scammers.

Tips to avoid scammers

1. Download and use the Turkopticon toolbar. This will allow you to see reviews from other Mechanical Turk workers before you decide to take a hit or not. See if a requester rejected a MTurk hit without good reason. Did they pay in reasonable time? One scam that unethical requesters use is to reject work on the grounds that it is inadequate in order to get out of paying.

2. Stay away from hits that ask for your name, address and credit card details. Mechanical Turk requests never ask for personal information.

3. Avoid hits with high pay that appear to be too good to be true. Ten dollars for a job that takes less than 10 minutes is a sign of a scammer.

4. Join forums such as Turker Nation and MTurk Forum to interact with other Turk workers, get informed and learn what hits to avoid and what hits are the best.

How will I be paid?


If you are a US based Worker, you can choose to disburse your earnings to your U.S. bank account or to an Amazon.com gift certificate balance. Workers in India have the option of receiving bank checks denominated in Indian Rupees or disbursing their earnings to an Amazon.com gift certificate. All other international Workers can only disburse to an Amazon.com gift certificate. Please note that all disbursements are made in whole cents only.

Conclusion


We like MTurk and we will keep signing on to complete the HITs that are worthwhile. It is important to evaluate whether a HIT is worth your time and effort before completing it. Once you find the types of HITs that you like and excel at, we suggest you stick mostly to them so that you don't spend a lot of time weeding through scam HITs or time wasters.