How To: MTurk

[ Have a Smart Phone? Go spend 2 minutes and make $6]

Part 2, Getting Paid is now up. Go check it out if you're already familiar with MTurk!


So I've had a few people ask me already how they get started with Mechanical Turk. I decided to write this guide to help cover the basics so that if you are interested you can pick it up quickly.



Firstly it's important to specify that there are three major parts to the whole, and they each play a different role in getting you what you need.

1) Amazon.com - Basically Amazon is the company behind everything, and they have a very well known web store where you can buy almost anything. If you already have an Amazon account, you are set, just use the same Username and Password for the next two parts. If You don't have an account, then click HERE and sign up.

 2) Mechanical Turk  - This is a service that Amazon started that connects Requesters (people paying to have their work done) with Workers (people doing the work and getting paid for it.) This is where you will be spending most of your time and we'll cover it in depth in just a minute

 3) Amazon Payments - This is another service Amazon offers and the one you will need to learn to use to actually get to the money you earn from Turking.

Just remember they are 3 separate things, and they each play a role. I'm not really going to cover much about Amazon.com because it won't affect your ability to use MTurk or not.

Part 1: Signing up for Mechanical Turk

Hopefully by now you have setup an Amazon account. You will be using the same Username and Password for all three parts, so make sure it's one you know and remember.

When you go to the Mechanical Turk site this should be the screen you are greeted with:

Click to ZOOM

Now I've highlighted the important parts and will try to explain them.

The Red Square at the top contains the three "TABS" that you will be working with. By clicking on any of them you will see the information associated with that specific "TAB." You will also notice that when you choose a different "TAB" the options in the Green Box will change as well.

Currently the "Your account TAB" is highlighted (you can tell because it's Blue) so everything in the Green Box are options associated with "Your Account"

Also you will notice in the top right of the picture is a Purple Circle. Click there to sign in as a Worker. Just use the same Username and Password as your Amazon account.

You'll be able to look under all of the Tabs and check out all of the options after you are signed in, so let's go into detail about how to find work and how to get paid.

Part 2: Finding work (HIT's)

OK so it's important to know what a "HIT" is. Basically it is the task that someone is willing to pay to have done. Also there are two basic types of HIT's available.

1) HIT's that anybody can do

2) HIT's that require you to be qualified. Either by passing a test or by meeting certain qualifications (i.e. have completed over 1,000 HIT's) This is the purpose of the "Qualifications TAB"

Now, if you click on the "HIT's TAB" you should be greeted by something similar to this:

Click to ZOOM

I've highlighted the important parts (From Top to Bottom):

Black Box - You can search for Specific HIT's here. You will notice the check boxes on the right side. one of them allows you to only look for HIT's that you are qualified for. Also you can set an amount if you only want HIT's that pay at least $0.50 or $1.00 or whatever.


Purple Square - You'll notice that there are four HIT's on this page. inside the purple square are the links to other pages that contain more HIT's. If you don't like what you see check the next page, and keep going until you run out.


Yellow circle -  Just know that it show's a BONUS, I'll cover those later.


Green Square - Show's that I am not qualified for this HIT, but it has a link I can click on if I want to get Qualified.

Red Square - This is a HIT I can attempt, and this is where I will click to check it out.

Red Lines - Information about the HIT: WHO is requesting, HOW much time I'll have to complete it, WHAT it pays. ($0.02 in this instance)

--I should mention that in the top left of each HIT is a description of what the HIT is.--



If we clicked on what's inside the Red Square it will bring us up to the actual HIT:

Part 3: The actual HIT

So if you click on a HIT it will bring you to a screen similar to the one below:

Click to Zoom

I've tried to highlight the important stuff.

First let's look at everything BELOW the Purple Line this is the actual HIT. All the instructions and maybe an example will be written here, and you should at least skim through it BEFORE you accept the HIT. in the example if you click on what's in the Green Box then you'll get to see the instructions for the HIT.

The Red Box - This is where you will accept the HIT if you decide to try it. As soon as you do the Timer will tell start counting down. Once you accept, move below the Purple line and finish everything it asks. When you are done scroll all the way to the Bottom of the page and you should see a "Submit" Button.

Submit your HIT and then you can start looking for more that you would like to do

Part 4: A couple of Helpful Points

Just because they allot you 10 minutes to do something doesn't mean that it will actually take you 10 whole minutes. The translation ones I have been doing allot me 25 minutes and I average about 1.5 minutes to finish them.

Finding Good HITS: Check out Justin's Blog HIT's worth Turking for everyday he compiles a list of some of the best paying HIT's that only take a few minutes to complete. I would start with his suggestions and then try and find some of your own.

If you just don't want to complete a HIT after you've started or you accidentally closed the window, don't sweat it. sometimes there is an option to "Return HIT" up by where you clicked the "Accept HIT" button. If you start abandoning lots of HIT's though it will look bad for you and some of the higher paying HIT's might not accept you.

That's about it really, I'll go over actually getting your money tomorrow, but have a look around the "Your Account TAB" and then you can see how many HIT's you have completed etc.

--ALSO--

Be aware that if you complete a HIT, it might be a few day's before the Requester approves it. So when you see that your HIT's are "Pending" it just means you are waiting for the Requester to Log on and approve what you've done. The longest time I've waited for approval is about 1 week. So it can take a little bit. So please be mindful of that.

That being said, HAPPY Turking!

**As for me I'm currently using my earnings to feed my board game addiction without tearing up our families budget! There are a few post's that show my earnings for 10 days or so worth of work. The money is out there so please go get it!