Spoilers are easily the worst part about social media.

That might be a bit of an overstatement, but everyone who's ever been on the Internet knows how quickly spoilers can ruin just about anything. Whether it's the ending of a TV show you've been following for years or a game you just can't wait to play, spoilers don't just ruin the experience — they make the whole thing feel pointless.

What's the point in going on any further if you already know how the story will end?

Well, if Google has anything to do with it, spoilers may be a thing of the past: a recent patent listing reveals that Google may be working on a spoiler-blocking application for social media.

Essentially, Google is looking into a reactive tool that blocks potential spoilers from a user's social media feed. Instead of accidentally stumbling onto something that ruins an entire season's worth of television, a tiny warning would appear in its place.

At this point, however, everything is hypothetical — don't expect to see SpoilerBlock™ popping up in the App Store anytime soon. That being said, there are plenty of filters currently across a number of different websites; the idea of Google developing something like those into an automatic app isn't all that far-fetched.

The patent in question describes a system in which users chronicle their progress through a given show, game, movie — anything, really. For instance, say you and a friend were reading the same book but your friend was farther along in the story. If the app was active, you could tell the system that you were on chapter 3; they could tell the system that they were on chapter 9.

If that friend were to post something about a part of the book that you hadn't reached yet, the app would block that post from appearing; instead of seeing the spoiler on your social media feed, the app would blur the offending post and replace it with a spoiler warning.

Basically, the system would try to help alleviate the ridiculous number of spoilers that plague social media. Again, it's all hypothetical, and at this point as there's no telling whether or not people would update their progress enough to keep the system running ... but it's definitely a step in the right direction. Google itself doesn't seem to want to commit to anything just yet, as a representative told Quartz that some projects "mature into real products or services, some don't."

Hopefully, this is one of the projects that does — if the system can truly banish spoilers forever, Google might just save the Internet.

Photo: Shawn Collins | Flickr

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