diff --git a/lib/site_template/_config.yml b/lib/site_template/_config.yml
index 1ed21acb..ae45638b 100644
--- a/lib/site_template/_config.yml
+++ b/lib/site_template/_config.yml
@@ -4,8 +4,8 @@ email: your-email@domain.com
 description: "Write an awesome description for your new site here. You can edit this line in _config.yml. It will appear in your document head meta (for Google search results) and in your feed.xml site description."
 baseurl: ""
 url: "http://yourdomain.com"
-twitter-username: jekyllrb
-github-username:  jekyll
+twitter_username: jekyllrb
+github_username:  jekyll
 
 # Build settings
 markdown: kramdown
diff --git a/lib/site_template/_includes/footer.html b/lib/site_template/_includes/footer.html
index 9def50ed..0026c4c5 100644
--- a/lib/site_template/_includes/footer.html
+++ b/lib/site_template/_includes/footer.html
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@
 
     <div class="footer-col-2 column">
       <ul>
-        {% if site.github-username %}<li>
-          <a href="https://github.com/{{ site.github-username }}">
+        {% if site.github_username %}<li>
+          <a href="https://github.com/{{ site.github_username }}">
             <span class="icon github">
               <svg version="1.1" class="github-icon-svg" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px"
                  viewBox="0 0 16 16" enable-background="new 0 0 16 16" xml:space="preserve">
@@ -29,11 +29,11 @@
                 c0,0.208,0.14,0.449,0.534,0.373c3.081-1.028,5.302-3.935,5.302-7.362C15.76,3.906,12.285,0.431,7.999,0.431z"/>
               </svg>
             </span>
-            <span class="username">{{ site.github-username }}</span>
+            <span class="username">{{ site.github_username }}</span>
           </a>
         </li>{% endif %}
-        {% if site.twitter-username %}<li>
-          <a href="https://twitter.com/{{ site.twitter-username }}">
+        {% if site.twitter_username %}<li>
+          <a href="https://twitter.com/{{ site.twitter_username }}">
             <span class="icon twitter">
               <svg version="1.1" class="twitter-icon-svg" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" x="0px" y="0px"
                  viewBox="0 0 16 16" enable-background="new 0 0 16 16" xml:space="preserve">
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@
                 c6.015,0,9.304-4.983,9.304-9.304c0-0.142-0.003-0.283-0.009-0.423C14.976,4.29,15.531,3.714,15.969,3.058z"/>
               </svg>
             </span>
-            <span class="username">{{ site.twitter-username }}</span>
+            <span class="username">{{ site.twitter_username }}</span>
           </a>
         </li>{% endif %}
       </ul>