1. A method comprising: storing, in a social networking system, data describing a machine and an owner of the machine, the owner comprising a user of a plurality of users of the social networking system who is capable of authorizing one or more actions associated with the machine; receiving, from the owner, descriptions of each of the one or more actions associated with the machine, a description associated with an action specifying information for communication to the machine to perform the action; receiving a request from a requesting user of the social networking system to perform the action using the machine; determining whether the requesting user is authorized to perform the action based at least in part on a type of connection between the requesting user and the owner and one or more permissions associated with the action; communicating an instruction authorizing the machine to perform the action from the social networking system to the machine responsive to determining that the requesting user is authorized to perform the action using the machine; receiving an indication from the machine that the action was performed by the machine; and generating a content item describing the action based on a stored description of the action received from the user, the content item identifying the requesting user, the action, and the machine.