What does this search show?

I was told if I search "www.mysite.com" including the quotes, it shows backlinks. Now I know of the likes of backlinkwatch etc to show backlinks and I know G etc don't show all my backlinks but the numbers shown when I do the search in the quotes seems very very different.
So what am I searching? If it is references to my site then are these not technically backlinks?
I have searched the forums but I am looking for a definate answer.
Thanks

It basically looks for pages that contain the phrase http://www.mysite.com either a link or plain text.

Surely then if it contains www.mysite.com then this is a link of sorts as it can be copied into the address bar or in that it refers to my site alone?
Many thanks for taking the time to explain this

It just means it searched for all the webpages in googles index that has the phrase "mysite.com", it doesnt necessarily mean they're backlinks.

Sorry to repeat myself but surely anything that directly mentions your site is, by definition, a link although I appreciate it is not a "backlink" as we understand it in terms of seo.
So the more times our site comes up is better for the domain, after all there is no such thing as bad publicity as they say.