The Live.me app allows people to communicate with others through broadcasting live stream videos. Yhoser Herrera uses the app and found it after he stumbled on it eight months ago while on Facebook and downloaded it after seeing a Live. me promotional commercial. Herrera has since established a solid fan base of 25,000 subscribers. One of the ways he has grown his brand is through treating his viewers as “family,” thus creating a personal virtual family using a water and panda emoji which his fan base puts in as a part of their user name.

“Well, when I came in this app, I noticed basically everybody was in different families and I thought it was cool but, you know, I noticed that there is so many different families,” Herrera said.

Individuals use this app as a way to socialize with others from all over the globe, but it can also be used as a source of income. During broadcasts, virtual gifts can be given to the user “broadcaster.” When a broadcaster receives virtual gifts, they then can convert those into diamonds, and diamonds can convert into real money or can be transferred into virtual coins to gift to others without spending money out of pocket. If an individual gets 40,000 diamonds or more, they can finally start to cash out $200 to $600 a day. The money will be put in a PayPal account within a few months. People can link their PayPal account to their profile in case their fans decide to sponsor them.

One broadcaster who wishes to remain anonymous includes expensive virtual gift giveaways that any individual can enter. He has gifted winners with virtual aquariums as well as virtual castles. Virtual castles cost 19,999 coins or about $250. He uses the app as a way of networking for an extra way to earn cash and free advertising.

“I’ve branded the whole thing from the thumbnail picture that’s blue, to the snowflake, snowman to everything that I say having to do with being ‘Frosty,’” the broadcaster said. “All that is a brand, ok. That’s what makes me different.”

Some Live.me streamer broadcasters have made it their sole income to live on, according to an October 2016 Venturebeat.com article “Live.me has processed $1 million in virtual gift payments for streamers in 7 months.”

This worldwide broadcasting app can be downloaded through any iPhone or Android device through either the App Store or the Google Play Store.