Social Media Evaluation and User Testing

Have you ever heard of a social media evaluator or a user tester? Well, these are jobs that independent contractors can do from home (or anywhere you have stable WiFi)!

As a social media evaluator, your job is to analyze the advertising for a brand or company and determine whether its online content is relevant to you. In this position, you typically work from home to look at the company's content across the internet, check newsfeeds or search results and use an online reporting tool to provide information about the content. Most companies want to target a wide audience, so it's possible to get this job from almost anywhere in the world. In fact, living outside of the United States is a requirement for some positions. Most social media evaluator positions are part-time with a certain number of hours that need to be completed each day or week. 

User testing is the process through which the interface and functions of a website, app, product, or service are tested by real users who perform specific tasks in realistic conditions. The purpose of this process is to evaluate the usability of that website or app and to decide whether the product is ready to be launched for real users. For relevant results, the testers shouldn’t be directed too much and should be allowed to interact with the website or app naturally, to see if the system is intuitive and comfortable enough to use by people who aren’t yet familiar with it.

Both of these activities are similar in that they are generally performed online and you are allowed to provide unguided feedback on websites, apps, products, or services. You can make pretty good money performing these tasks/assignments, but you will need to dedicate yourself to the work during specified periods of time. An example of a user test that I completed was when I was asked to complete a series of tasks on a newly designed website for the Smithsonian Institute. I was asked to navigate the website and find answers to questions like what are their hours during holidays. I had to record myself as I performed the task and provide commentary while doing it such as whether I found the website easy to use or confusing.

This hustle is legit, but some of these options are a bit more time-consuming than others. Overall, this is an interesting side hustle that is easy to do!