what does this essay theme mean?

This theme seems to be a variation on the slogan, "Think globally, act locally." You can read about that phrase here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_globally,_act_locally

I would say that theme you are assigned to write on is an update, for the age of the Internet, of "Think globally, act locally" slogan, which was first coined in 1969, when there was no Internet.

Since the coming of the Internet, some people have been very optimistic that the Internet would or will lead to the solving of many global and local problems due to the fact that all sorts of different people places from all around the world could easily and instantly communicated with each other, get to know each other, see each other, and so on.

So, I think you essay should be, in part at least, about how "Connect globally. Thrive locally" is or seems to be an appropriate update, for the Internet Age, of "Think globally, act locally."

If you need more to write about, you could cite people who are skeptical that the Internet will lead to global peace or global social justice. Just do some Googling, and you can find some skeptics. I mean, just think: The Internet has been around since 1993 or 1995 (get the correct date). That's about 20 years of Internet. Has global peace or global social justice broken out yet? Have things gotten better for the average American, or the average human on earth? Well, maybe things have. That's another issue. I do know that unemployment in the USA and in many Europe countries is HIGHER than it was when the people started using the Internet.

Oh well, hope stuff was some use to you! I'm sure you can crank out 500 words in no time!

P.S. One of the other answers said that the theme is about how a business can thrive in the Internet age. I think that is correct, since this theme says "THRIVE locally" instead of "ACT locally" as in the original slogan and bumper sticker. The original slogan was understood by me and most people as being a slogan of liberal "hippie" type people who wanted world peace and world social justice and and end to poverty. But this new phrase, "Connect Globally. Thrive Locally," seems geared towards making money. So, perhaps you could write about how society and culture have shifted in the last 40 years from a "social progress" outlook to "making money" outlook. But of course, that would be, at most, a generalization. There are still plenty of liberals in the USA who are working for and dreaming of social progress. For example, the recent "Occupy Wall Street" movement was a pretty big movement of social progress liberals. You can no doubt find statistics to give some basis for your conclusions in your essay. Perhaps you can find out the proportions of people in 1970 who claimed to be liberal and who claimed to be conservative, as compared to a recent survey.

Good LUCK! THRIVE LOCALLY!

Let's say you have a business in a small shop in a small town, and your customers are all your neighbors. In that case, you will have limited success, because you have a limited customer base. But, if you set up an on-line business, you can literally obtain customers from all over the world, making you a lot of money. You then pour that into your own community by buying more things from your other neighbors (grocery stores, car dealers, etc.) and your local community thrives.

The theme seems to indicate that if forge relationships with everyone, (globally), you'll do better in your immediate life in your immediate surroundings (locally).

They're asking you to write an essay demonstrating that idea.