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orty-three-year-old Enny Nuraeni is savvy about mobile communication applications. As a mother and an owner of two companies, she always tries to keep up communications with her children.

That is why she finds mobile communication apps like LINE, WhatsApp and BlackBerry Messenger very helpful.

'€œI often have '€˜sticker'€™ wars with my kids and friends. I also compete in online games with them in my spare time,'€ Enny said, referring to emoticons available on LINE.

'€œThe games allow us to invite other users to join in.'€

Effie Soekotjo, 51, meanwhile, said she was a newbie to LINE as she was more familiar with WhatsApp for communicating with family members and for work purposes.

'€œMy friends told me to also use LINE as it offers many features, like stickers, games and LINE @, with which I can sell my catering services. However, I found it complicated to use. I still use WhatsApp more often,'€ she said, adding that her family used a WhatsApp group.

LINE, firstly launched in Japan, was initially popular among teenage users. As the app started to recognize its growing number of adult users, the company began working with older celebrities to engage them more.

On Wednesday, LINE Indonesia announced a one-year work agreement with legendary singer Iwan Fals to promote the app, hoping to reach out to a wider target market in terms of age and share the importance of communication in families.

Stickers and Iwan'€™s official account can be accessed on LINE for free and two videos depicting his family life can be viewed as commercials on national television starting December.

In addition, a video clip of Iwan, his wife, son and daughter singing a rearranged version of his tune '€œDamai Kami Sepanjang Hari'€ (Peace all day long) will be running as an advertisement on YouTube.

LINE Indonesia marketing team leader Galuh Candrakirana said she hoped Iwan could help spread the message of family values.

'€œHow many of us still say '€˜I love you'€™ to our parents or spouses, face-to-face or at least through text?'€ Galuh said at a media gathering on Wednesday.

She recalled that during its first years in Indonesia from 2012, LINE worked more with younger artists, such as singer Agnes Monica and Nidji pop band vocalist Giring Ganesha. In late 2014 it worked with actors from the all-time legendary romance movie '€œAda Apa Dengan Cinta'€ (What'€™s up with Cinta?), which was released in 2002, to engage more young adults.

Meanwhile, LINE users can access a Sticker Shop where they can download free and paid-for stickers of cartoons and celebrity characters that they can use when chatting.

The Sticker Shop is LINE'€™s second biggest revenue source globally.

The first and third income sources for the corporation are free-to-play video games that make money from in-game purchases of virtual items and other services as well as official accounts for businesses and celebrities who pay fees to send a set number of promotional messages.

'€œFor now, paid official accounts are only available in some other countries and it'€™s quite expensive. Here, the payment still uses a barter system,'€ Galuh said.

LINE recorded a total of 212 million monthly active users by the third quarter of 2015, with 65 percent of them from Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia.

In Indonesia, it has more than 30 million users. Line Corp.'€™s third quarter earnings report for 2015 saw a 38 percent year-on-year increase in revenues to Â¥29.9 billion.

Chat mobile app observer Izak Jenie said it was a challenge for LINE, WhatsApp and BBM to keep users loyal.

'€œMessengers are the applications with the highest emotional engagement. Once users like the features, it'€™ll be hard for them to shift to other apps, hence it'€™s important for [an app] not to lose its coolness or easy-to-use menu,'€said Izak, the CEO of creative company JAS Kapital.

In Izak'€™s view, LINE had more of a '€œcool'€ factor than WhatsApp, however, the latter was easier and simpler to use, hence having more users. Less and less people are using BBM because it has shown a lack of innovation recently.

'€œTo make people stay, apps shouldn'€™t use pop-up ads or side ads like social media does because messengers are private apps, different to social media,'€ he added. (rbk)