方格子 Vocus

方格子 vocus (vocus.cc) is a Chinese-language online content and creator platform operated by 新銳數位股份有限公司, focused on original written content. Creators register and publish text and images in personal creative spaces called "salons" (沙龍), which replaced the earlier "publication topic" (出版專題) format from May 2023. Content categories span fiction and essays, life writing, travel and food, film and drama reviews, workplace experience and personal finance. The platform provides an editor and CMS, scheduling and content management, customizable salon layouts, a free open image library, newsletter and app push notifications for new posts, an analytics dashboard, multi-author collaboration and audience/membership management, positioning itself as a lower-cost alternative to creators self-hosting a site.

The platform emphasizes that creators own their member lists and data and are not subject to algorithmic distribution. Reader-facing features include topic categorization, follow and comment interaction, sharing of highlighted passages as image cards, adjustable font size, dark mode, article read-aloud and pinned home categories. A native mobile app launched on iOS in January 2026 and on Android in April 2026; the app is oriented to reading and interaction, with writing still done on the web. Other recent additions include a chat room beta for creators and subscribing members, an achievement badge system, an official themed salon program (野格團 2.0), a returning sponsorship (贊助) feature in which the platform handles payment processing, invoicing and tax reporting, and a published policy on AI-generated content management.

The company traces its origins to the SOS news crowdfunding platform founded in March 2015, which pivoted to the subscription platform SOSreader in 2016-2017 and was renamed 方格子 vocus in 2018. Third-party reviews describe strengths such as a clean reading and editing experience, unlimited image upload size, per-article SEO settings, straightforward local payment and withdrawal flows, and built-in article click data, and weaknesses including no table support, occasional editor lag, non-real-time statistics, weak on-site search and no bulk import of existing articles.

Founding story

The company started in March 2015 as the SOS news crowdfunding platform, whose campaign for the magazine 《眉角》 raised more than NT$5 million and set a Taiwanese publishing crowdfunding record, establishing the基礎 for the platform. It subsequently pivoted to a subscription model under the name SOSreader and rebranded as 方格子 vocus in 2018. Founder and CEO David Weng is a digital content entrepreneur, a seventh-cohort AAMA Taipei Cradle Program entrepreneur, a judge for the 42nd Golden Tripod Awards digital publishing category, and a committee member for the Ministry of Culture's digital publishing industry development grant program.

Business model

vocus operates a two-sided content platform: it is free to publish and read, and it monetizes creator earnings and platform traffic. Creators can charge for access to salon content through time-limited subscriptions or one-off purchases, sell digital products (e-books, consultations, Notion templates and similar), receive reader sponsorships, and participate in an advertising revenue-share program. The platform handles payment flows, invoicing and tax reporting on creators' behalf and pays out earnings on a periodic withdrawal cycle. It also runs vocus for Business, a creator-brand matchmaking service that replaced the earlier syndication (直送) program in July 2025.

Revenue is derived from the platform's share of paid subscriptions, one-time content purchases and digital product sales, sponsorship transactions, advertising placements shared with creators under the ad revenue-share program, and brand/business collaboration services. A site-wide paid membership, vocus Premium (NT$149 per month or NT$1,490 per year), gave subscribers access to all Premium-marked articles with proceeds distributed among participating creators; that service was discontinued in December 2023.

Traction

Company-reported figures for 2026 include roughly 960,000 members, 110,000 creators, 9 million monthly unique visitors, 250 million monthly search impressions, over one million published articles, and 40% of creators earning income. Reported growth trajectory: 230,000 members and 20,000 creators in 2020; 270,000 members and 36,000 creators with 2.2 million monthly unique visitors in 2021; up to 7 million monthly unique visitors in 2022-2023; 550,000 members and 80,000 creators in 2024; and 850,000 members and 100,000 creators with 8.8 million monthly visitors in 2025. In the first half of 2025, 6,918 creators contributed 19,795 articles to themed campaigns. The Android app had over 5,000 downloads as of its Google Play listing.

Latest developments

In January 2026 vocus released its iOS app and ran a site-wide anniversary promotion; the Android app followed in April 2026. Recent product work includes dark mode and article read-aloud (June 2026), a chat room beta for creators and subscribers, an achievement badge system (November 2025), the 野格團 2.0 official themed salon program (October 2025), the return of the sponsorship feature (November 2025), a back-end redesign separating personal profile from creative workspace (August 2025), a revised income withdrawal process (June 2026), and published policies on AI-generated content and on platform interaction and brand-deal conduct (January 2026). vocus is a co-organizer of the Japanese exhibition 《恐怖心展》 in Taiwan, with early-bird tickets on sale.