mTurk Review

For those who aren't familiar with mTurking, it is a service hosted by Amazon that allows entities to post odd jobs or tasks they need done on the cheap.  During the initial set up of an account, you can choose between being one of those entities or completing the tasks.  These tasks are called HITs (Human Intelligence Tasks).  Examples of these HITs include transferring information on various business cards to text boxes, transcribing audio files into text, filling out surveys..the list goes on.  It's important to note that HITs equate to various amounts of money.  The business card example pays out $0.02 per HIT at first, then you can move up to $0.05 tasks.  However, surveys can dole out at least $0.50 per HIT.  Conveniently, there is the option to search for HITs by criteria, one being by the amount you can make per each.  I won't go through which ones I recommend on a daily basis, because I'm sure there are plenty of blogs or lists in circulation. :-)

When you select a HIT you're interested in completing, it's imperative that you read the instructions in the HIT summary and click the [Accept HIT] button, which then starts a timer.  The timer is set by the posting entity so it varies.  For surveys, the HIT will ask you to open a link to the actual task and when you're finished, they'll usually give you a completion code to enter in the mTurk page so it's a good idea to open the survey link in a separate tab.

These HITs usually won't credit to your account instantaneously, the posting entity will first check your work then either accept or reject it.  Just do the task to the best of your ability and you should be fine.  Some HITs will take a few minutes to be accepted while some can take days, you just got to be patient.

Overall, I really enjoy mTurking.  There are always HITs to be completed, and each HIT seems to be plentiful, so you don't have to worry about fighting for them.  This is where I've had the best luck and I feel is the best bang-for-the-buck.  Have fun!