Mechanical Turk: What it Is and What it Ain't

Mechanical Turk is a subsidiary of Amazon.com and first started in November of 2005. Like anything else, has its supporters and its detractors.

When you look at the website, you get the spiffied up version of what Mechanical Turk is. Basically, it’s a way to make money doing menial computer tasks. And to a lot of people that sounds great… until you understand that some tasks pay very little. As in .10 or less for some. There are others that pay much more ($10 and more); however, these may require certain skills and passing certain tests to get approved for them.

Mechanical Turk has been praised as a way to make a little money while sitting on the phone surfing the net since a lot of the jobs don't really require all that much brain power. Others object to even bothering with such drivel, calling it a "virtual sweatshop". 

What it comes down to is realistic expectation. You have to know that there is a difference between "working from home" and "making money online". If you need to work from home and want something that can pay the bills, this ain't it. If you feel like it could be good or a little fun to at least make forty or fifty cents here and there filling out questionnaires and the like, what the hey-- go for it. 

Beware that some users have reported doing a job and not having the work accepted or getting to a certain amount of money and having their account suddenly suspended.  Others report (ahem, foolishly) offering personal information and then being on the receiving end of solicitations from insurance, roofing and siding companies. This article reports that nearly 40% of tasks on the site are now nothing but spam.

Just like any other make money online or work from home opportunity, when considering Mechanical Turk, DO YOUR RESEARCH in order to figure out if it will be something that works for you.

Good reads for this subject:  

Top 10 Amazon Mechanical Turk Tips and Tricks

Amazon.Com MechanicalTurk Cheats Online Workers of Earnings

Can You Actually Earn Reasonable Money from Mechanical Turk?

Ways to avoid MTurk scams

Where You Can Make Extra Money Online

Anyone who has a computer has probably looked for a way to make extra money online. Even those with the best paying jobs are finding it hard to make ends meet these days and there is nothing wrong with trying to earn a little extra cash here and there. This is especially true with the way expenses keep going up while the average income stays right where it is. The typical response is to cut back on expenses. However, this just doesn't always cut it. Sometimes, a little extra income is a necessity. So what do you get? A lot of people looking for a way to make extra money online!

Who is going to go sign up for extra hours at the Pizza Shack when they've already worked their full time job and they still have a household to run or college to get through? What people are hoping for when they are looking for a way to make extra money online is to find something that they can do in the comfort of their home on a part time basis where the money is worth their time. And believe it or not, it is actually possible to make extra money online in a number of different ways. While some find their answer in the form of filling out surveys or blogging, others find their extra income through online tutoring or selling ebooks.

Who are the ones that are successful at making extra money online? First and foremost, it is those who have a good sense of reality. They know better than to get sucked into fly-by-night schemes that promise to make a person a millionaire overnight with little or no effort. To make extra money online, a person has to have some idea of what he or she is comfortable with. While some are at ease with taking the reins into their own hands and creating their own opportunity, there are those who simply prefer taking on work from a legitimate work from home company.

Looking for some legitimate examples of how others make extra money online? Consider:

· Working as a customer service rep in the travel industry or taking orders for flowers or catalogs. Companies such as Alpine Access and Working Solutions are two popular options for finding home-based customer service work.

· Using your talents! Many who make extra money online do so by selling their homemade crafts on websites like Etsy. This can be anything from ceramics to jewelry to candles to purses to photographs.

· Spinning off from your current career. Online tutoring, graphics design, consulting, editing and proofreading and even phone-based nursing support centers are some of the top well-paying options to make extra money online with.

No matter what walk of life a person comes from, needing to make extra cash is now a common thread that just about everyone is dangling from. The nice thing is, with enough research, there is likely an online opportunity to make extra money online for the most un-savvy computer user.