You read the goings-on in the lives of friends and virtually unknown acquaintances on Facebook, but wouldn't you rather get status updates from your car, your bank account, or even your father's pacemaker?
Whether we should use social media platforms to link the devices in our lives is open to debate, but these are just a few of the scenarios that the 'Internet of Things' will achieve in the coming years.
'For most consumers it probably sounds like the title of a James Cameron movie where machines are taking over the world,' says Niall Murphy, founder and CEO of online product profile creator EVRYTHNG, who insists that it's merely about smarter products that are able to adapt their behaviour based on location, time of day and personal preferences.
'It's about using software to provide more service with a product in the same way that apps have increased the value people get out of their smartphones.'
Grant Notman, head of sales and marketing at Wood & Douglas, a company that manufactures wireless communications hardware, agrees: 'The Internet of Things is removing mundane repetitive tasks or creating things that just weren't possible before, enabling more people to do more rewarding tasks and leaving the machines to do the repetitive jobs.'
We have been promised 'smart' products before. The connected fridge that orders groceries, and curtains and blinds that respond to a text message are both banal if you consider what the Internet of Things can actually accomplish.