大家会主动和外国人打招呼说话吗？

我很喜欢英语，但是每次看见外国人都只是远远的看，不好意思上前去跟他们说话。前几天出去玩，看见一对外国情侣，他们就在我身边离我很近，我听见他们说想要找人帮忙照照片，我就在想要不要上去帮忙，但是自己又太害羞了，纠结了一会终于鼓足勇气上去和他们说话，帮他们拍照，然后很自然的就跟他们聊起来了，我们聊得很开心。他们说很开心能我和聊天，因为我是他们来中国第一个主动和他们聊天的人。我想知道如果你们身边有外国人，你们会主动和他们聊天吗？

please explain this I read this article in a book and I'm confused by its verb. Here is the article: Chinese netizens are usually different from American netizens.The latter is more often driven by practical needs ,using the Internet as a tool to send e mails ,buy and sell goods ,make reserches,arrange trips and make payments. The former are more likely to use the Internet for social contact reasons . The latter goes with "is" but The former goes with "are",why? I think both of them should go with "are". Can anyone explain this to me ? Thank you