Why Erin Piacenti's Name Became a 200K+ Search Trend

The name Erin Piacenti became the first live trend shown on Google's U.S. list today, with more than 200,000 searches. 1

The search burst followed a fatal Times Square attack on August 31. Police said Pamela Cisneros stabbed Piacenti and a 68-year-old man within about 20 seconds, then refused to drop two knives during a four-minute standoff before officers shot her. 2

Piacenti was 32, a Bank of America vice president, a Fordham Law graduate, and a new mother who had recently returned from maternity leave. The identification gave a recognizable public place and a seemingly random attack a specific human story, which is why attention kept moving from the event to her name. 34