From 100 to 10,000 in a weekend

[Neecy]

A couple of weeks ago, I was part of a small group of about 100 people working in a new Facebook app that was in Beta. You did some simple tasks involving rewriting copy, reviewing the rewrites, and simple research tasks. You were paid daily via PayPal for each task you performed. It was a nice app. In a week I'd made around $275 just from rewriting short snippets of commercial copy and figured it would be a nice source for holiday cash.

Then one of the Beta testers posted the link to it in her blog. It was picked up by other blogs and over the weekend we went from a group of 100 to over 10,000. The developers are so overwhelmed they had to shut it down for a couple of weeks so they could finish the system enhancements they were performing.

THAT is how desperate people are for work, any work, even little indie jobs that pay less than minimum wage. And this Facebook app is a lot more credible than a lot of stuff that's floating around out there.

Witness the growth of sites such as Amazon Mechanical Turk, where workers perform tasks for, quite literally, pennies. It's a virtual sweatshop that takes advantage of desperate people - and Amazon.com takes a cut for each transaction. They're making a profit for running an American sweatshop. You have the option to take your "pay" either in Amazon.com gift certificates - plowing the money right back into Amazon! - or through a transfer to your checking account.

This is the new virtual workforce, where American companies can get around labor laws and minimum wage laws. And this trend is growing. SMS services such as KGB and ChaCha have virtual workforces, some of whom make around a dollar an hour. Hey, if your unemployment has run out, it buys rice and beans, eh?

I've been doing some research on the virtual workforce, and what I've found is appalling. But people are flocking to them because they've run out of options, while investment bankers are raking in millions in bonuses.

Something simply has to give. In another generation we'll all be reduced to serfs.

[Mojambo]

1. The Dow is at 10 G's baby!

Quiet down and have some champagne.

[Angry Dragon]

2. According to Rush Limbaugh serfdom was good

The streets were safe and you knew who you worked for.