Once reserved for romantic partners and other loved ones, the heart emoji can now mean anything—which means it has no meaning at all.

And when you throw emoji into the mix, things get even more complicated. A " " or " ️" are easy to understand, but how are " " and " " different, and what does it mean when someone sends ...

Researchers who use Twitter took to the internet to tweet descriptions of their work using a language that's theoretically now the argot of the people: emoji. They used the hashtag #emojiresearch.