<rant>

I’m pissed off.

The App Store created an amazing place where frequent updates are expected.

I’m one of those people that love to get new updates. I check my updates tab often, read the release notes and go check out the apps I use all the time.

Somewhere along the line release notes have become a joke. Something companies obviously see no value in.

Facebook think release notes are a waste of time.

Companies that have created amazing brands and connections with their customers like Uber and Airbnb have also stopped caring.

Even Apple give us nothing.

Luckily there’s a few companies that care enough to keep me reading.

Slack are all about communication, so it makes sense they do a good job.

Tumblr do a good job at mixing a bit of humour with some actually useful notes.

But in my eyes the kings of release notes are ShiftyJelly. They’re funny, really useful and get me to connect with the company.

My tips:

- Tell me what you’ve added / removed / fixed so I can actually go check it out.

- Make it fun!

- Build a story around your company / brand that people will want to connect with.

It’s so hard to connect with users and you spend weeks or months creating an update. Why would you waste such a good opportunity to connect and share?

</rant>