Social media sentiment is real data too, it’s based on actual numbers and measurements. But it doesn’t necessarily represent the bigger picture, just like physical data in the UK.
You can’t cherry pick which selected data fits your narrative and reject the rest.
Sorry but the only real telling data is what consumers are buying with their hard earned money. That’s the only true story.
How much consumers are spending on your product. Buying more of it over the competition.
Twitter discussions
Holiday shopping cart clicks
Search engine search results
How many votes this got
Tells nothing except for that moment in time; day, week, holidays, something was popular than something else in those aspects. Those aspects do not guarantee a transition into sales.