Ping / Counterping is a special feature where editors of The Verge debate issues from the world of technology head-to-head, no holds barred.

There's nothing like a staggering billion-dollar acquisition to put you on the map, is there? Instagram — already an enormously popular photo-sharing service on the iPhone with some 30 million users — recently made the leap to Android, and Mark Zuckerberg himself announced earlier today that Facebook had scooped the startup for a cool ten figures. That's serious money for a company that didn't even exist three years ago. If Instagram wasn't already ubiquitous, Facebook's backing means it's probably about to be.

But not everyone is buying what Instagram's selling. Are the retro-hip filters destroying the visual internet or are they simply the zeitgeist of our time? Chris Ziegler and Dieter Bohn jump into the fray.