Added entry for createRef API

content/blog/2018-02-07-react-v-16-3.md

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ title: "React v16.3.0: New lifecycles and context"
 author: [bvaughn]
 ---
 
-This release includes a new class component lifecycle (`getDerivedStateFromProps`), a new `StrictMode` component, and an official context API!
+This release includes a new class component lifecycle (`getDerivedStateFromProps`), a new `StrictMode` component, an official context API, and a better way for managing refs!
 
 For the past few months, the React team has been working on support for [asynchronous rendering](#). We are excited about the new features this will enable, and we've learned that some changes will be required to the way we write React components.
 
@@ -17,6 +17,15 @@ For many years, React has offered an experimental API for context. Although it w
 
 [Learn more about the new context API here.](#)
 
+## `createRef` API
+
+Previously, React provided two ways for managing refs: the legacy string ref API and the callback API. Although the string ref API was the more convenient of the two, it had [several downsides](https://github.com/facebook/react/issues/1373) and so our official recomendation was to [use the callback form instead](https://reactjs.org/docs/refs-and-the-dom.html#legacy-api-string-refs).
+
+Version 16.3 adds a new option for managing refs that offers the convenience of a string ref without any of the downsides:
+`embed:16-3-release-blog-create-ref.js`
+
+[Learn more about the new `createRef` API here.](#)
+
 ## Component Lifecycle Changes
 
 React's class component API has been around for years with little change. However, as we add support for more advanced features (such as [error boundaries](/docs/react-component.html#componentdidcatch) and the upcoming [async rendering mode](#)) we stretch this model in ways that it was not originally intended.

examples/16-3-release-blog-create-ref.js

@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+class MyComponent extends React.Component {
+  // highlight-next-line
+  _divRef = React.createRef();
+
+  render() {
+    // highlight-range{4}
+    return (
+      <input
+        type="text"
+        ref={this._divRef}
+      />
+    );
+  }
+
+  componentDidMount() {
+    // highlight-next-line
+    this._divRef.value.focus();
+  }
+}