Giants fans rioting in the streets before Election Day 2010

It seems as if the San Francisco Giants World Series win has brought out the worst in people, or maybe just their need to be a drunken hooligan. You must have been living under a rock to not know that the Giants beat the Rangers 3-1 in Game 5 of the World Series. However, the celebration trickled into the streets where citizens vandalized buildings, fought with each other, and started fires. And the Internet and social media platforms acted as part of citizen journalism to show the world what was going on in the City by the Bay.

A live stream of the city’s police scanner was available for Internet users to listen to, where instances of squad car break-ins, gunshot fires, broken store windows, and fires streamed over the scanner. Hashtags #SFRiot and #SFRiots also started to trend last night on Twitter with reports of vandalism and police enforcement.

What a way to wake up to an Election Day. Hung over, black eye, with Prop 19 on the brain. Today, Americans will be voting on regional propositions, new governors taking over office, city and school officials.

While many voters hit the polls before and after work to “speak” their opinion and support their political parties, many people are going home with that trusty “I Voted” sticker to wear on their lapels and t-shirts. Social media platforms like Facebook are offering a special “badge” of sorts to show all of your friends that you voted and Foursquare are offering “I Voted” badges of their own kind for voting today for a more technological way of showing off your patriotic and citizen responsibilities.