MTurk + Google News API = press • Hacker News Board

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#11

Post by eric_cc » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 4:15 PM UTC

randall wrote: post #5

Great hack! Very impressed.

Came here to say the same. Thanks for sharing.

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#12

Post by justinwi » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 4:15 PM UTC

seeingfurther wrote: post #8

justinwi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are rarely email addresses on a particular article, it's usually a matter of tracking down the author and finding his/her email address. We ended up getting addresses for about half of the article authors.

So the the Mturk worker would check the article for the email, if it's listed great, if not they might Google it?

Exactly. Full instructions for the worker are available here: http://screencast.com/t/HBl34oh58p

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#13

Post by Humbled » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 4:24 PM UTC

Did any of those 300 emails bounce. I.E., how many weren't correct?

Edit: Not yet tried mTurk so just curious how legitimacy and payments are handled.

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#14

Post by seeingfurther » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 4:24 PM UTC

justinwi wrote: post #12

seeingfurther wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So the the Mturk worker would check the article for the email, if it's listed great, if not they might Google it?

Exactly. Full instructions for the worker are available here: http://screencast.com/t/HBl34oh58p

dude.... screw that KickStarter thing ;-) Build this as a business! I've literally been trying to solve this problem for a month. Freelancer.com sucks and you can't buy cheap targeted email lists. You saved me a huge headache. Thanks!

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#15

Post by mmaia » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 4:25 PM UTC

Really nice!

That's pretty much the process I used to launch some apps -- except that I like to get the contacts myself and read some other articles from the person, so I can add a personal touch to the emails (it will increase your chances with the top journalists).

After successfully using this method, I'm building http://get.press.io

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#16

Post by eterm » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 4:26 PM UTC

seeingfurther wrote: post #8

justinwi wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are rarely email addresses on a particular article, it's usually a matter of tracking down the author and finding his/her email address. We ended up getting addresses for about half of the article authors.

So the the Mturk worker would check the article for the email, if it's listed great, if not they might Google it?

And all for $0.03

Does that make anyone else feel a bit ick at mTurk?

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#17

Post by justinwi » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 4:30 PM UTC

knockonthedoor wrote: post #10

"The Google News Search API has been officially deprecated as of May 26, 2011."

True, but deprecated != dead.

API still works great. You can try it yourself: http://press.CustomerDevLabs.com

Re: MTurk + Google News API = press

#18

Post by justinwi » Wed, Oct 02, 2013, 4:38 PM UTC

Humbled wrote: post #13

Did any of those 300 emails bounce. I.E., how many weren't correct? Edit: Not yet tried mTurk so just curious how legitimacy and payments are handled.

Good question. Overall quality was high (you're able to see the results as they come in and if they look funky, you can reject them and you won't have to pay).

Stats on our campaign are here: http://screencast.com/t/5XizDvsvjP