A social networking system enables users to interact through a content item in real time by presenting an interaction bar to a user viewing a content item page associated with the content item. The social networking system presents the content item pages for content items along with a content item header. The content item header remains at a fixed position on the display of a viewing user's client device at the top of the display. If the social networking system receives an interaction with a content item, the social networking system can identify users who are viewing the content item page associated with the content item and present an interaction bar that describes the interaction in the content item header. To determine whether to present an interaction bar to a viewing user, the social networking system can calculate an affinity score of a viewing user for the interaction.