Purpose - Data from social media (SM) has grown exponentially and created new opportunities for businesses to supplement their business intelligence (BI). However, there are many different platforms all of which are in a constant state of evolution. The purpose of this paper is to describe a generic methodology for the gathering of data from SM and transforming it into valuable BI. Design/methodology/approach - The approach taken is termed virtual excavation and builds on the similarities between the manipulation of technological artefacts virtual communities using various forms of SM and the excavation and analysis of physical artefacts found in archaeological settlements. Findings - The paper reports on a case study using this technique that looks at the Facebook fan pages of three mobile telecommunications service providers in Greece. The paper identifies many of the standard BI indicators as well as demonstrating that additional information relating to cross-page use can be collected by looking at how users manipulate artefact such as the ``like{''} button in Facebook. Research limitations/implications - Although the methodology is widely applicable, the paper only reports on the analysis of one platform, Facebook, and is heavily reliant on visualization tools. Future work will examine different platforms and different tools for analysis. Practical implications - The paper discusses some of the ways in which this approach could be used and suggests some areas in which it might be applied. Originality/value - The approach of using virtual excavations to extract BI from virtual communities in online SM offers a systematic approach for dealing with a variety of information from a variety of different media that is not found in techniques based on information systems or management science.