Article 13: User Presence
The User Presence Visibility feature introduces real-time collaboration awareness within StoryLine story packages. Producers can now see who else is actively working in the same package, including their names and email links. This visibility helps teams stay aligned, coordinate edits, and prevent accidental overwrites by showing who is currently in the story, so they can reach out through email, Teams, Slack, or other communication channels if needed.
This enhancement strengthens newsroom collaboration by improving transparency. With presence indicators, producers can easily identify overlapping work and directly contact teammates to stay aligned while editing shared stories.
What’s New
- Real-time presence indicators: Producers can now view the names and email addresses of others currently in the same story package.
- Email contact links: Producers can view collaborators’ email addresses and choose to reach out directly via email, Teams, Slack, or other communication channels to coordinate edits or ask questions.
- Edit (pen) icon: A pen icon appears next to a producer’s name when they have pending changes that have not yet been published, helping others know who is actively editing content.
- Profile images for claimed bio packages: When a producer has a claimed bio package, their profile photo is displayed instead of their initials, providing quick visual recognition.
Caveats
- No edit locking yet: Multiple producers can still make changes at the same time, so overwrites remain possible until additional safeguards are introduced.
- Data usage: Metrics from this feature will help determine whether a story-locking mechanism is needed in future releases.
How User Presence Works
Navigate to an existing story in StoryLine. On the right rail, you’ll see a new section labeled “Who’s here?” which shows all producers currently viewing or editing the same story package.
Hover over a user’s circle to see their full name. Selecting the circle will display the user’s email address, allowing you to quickly reach out or coordinate edits.
When multiple producers are working in the same story, an edit (pen icon) indicated appears next to a user’s circle if they have unpublished changes. This indicates that the user has made updates that have not yet been published.
The edit indicator serves as a reference point to show when another user has made updates that haven’t been published yet. Once that user publishes their changes and you refresh the page, the indicator will disappear.
