I guess i am too old. I still don't get it. At least, most of the ones now included in iOS. High heel shoe? National flags? Buildings? Trees? Cheeseburger?
Most of them would be excelent category or event icons in calendar or to-do applications.
I feel like emoji expresses much more than words can (sometimes). It makes texting much more fun! Sometimes I try to text my friends just with emojis, just to see if they can understand what I am trying to say! I feel like emoji really expresses your feelings to your friends as well. Through text, you can't really tell if your friend is mad or happy. But if you put some expressive emojis, then you get a better understanding!
SwiftKey will soon have the new ethnic emoji. There were some SwiftKey users who were disappointed they didn't have them. Not their fault though. Apple doesn't make it easy for developers.